Unity and Humility

UNITY AND HUMILITY
BLOG HOST, 11-10-2010
HOST:  JAY MARTIN
LUKE 17

Recently, I was in Target wearing a red shirt.  A woman turned to me, and in not the best tone asked me, “Hey will you please help me find something?”  I wondered why she seemed upset.  Then, I realized she thought I was an employee.  I was tempted to tell her I was not an employee there, but instead, I simply tried to help her find what she was looking for.  Kind of funny, and not always the easiest thing to do.  It is not easy when we are treated as a servant.

It is even harder when we are treated bad generally.  I can remember my first finance (I was engaged before Dawn, but we never got married because she broke off the engagement).  She never asked for forgiveness, and it was a rough deal.  It also took me years to forgive her, but when I did, I was over her.

Jesus said in verses 3 and 4:  “So watch yourselves. "If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him.  If he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times comes back to you and says, 'I repent,' forgive him."

Jesus also said in verses 7 through 10:  "Suppose one of you had a servant plowing or looking after the sheep. Would he say to the servant when he comes in from the field, 'Come along now and sit down to eat'? Would he not rather say, 'Prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me while I eat and drink; after that you may eat and drink'? Would he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do?  So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, 'We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.' "

Here’s two tough things:  being wronged and being treated like a servant.  Jesus says the issue of forgiving wrongs is not optional—we must forgive, and we must do it as often as we are wronged.  And, we had better be recklessly abandoned to the Lord.  Why?  We are His servants, and we might be treated like servants.  Humility is required so that when we do what the Lord tells us to do, we do not think we are “Best Christian of the Week.”  Instead, we did nothing special—we simply did our duty.  

Maybe you guys have these two principles down, but I struggle with both sometimes.  If you struggle, you will enjoy joining me in praying today:  Lord, so often I am not like You.  I don’t like being treated as a servant, and I have trouble forgiving others.  Will you help me?  Will you let repentance so radically change my life that I will agree with you both in attitude but also actions?  Thanks for Your help.