7“Which of you, having a slave plowing or tending sheep, will say to him when he has come in from the field, ‘Come immediately and fnsit down to eat’?
8“But will he not say to him, ‘Prepare something for me to eat, and properlyfnclothe yourself and serve me while I eat and drink; and fnafterward youfnmay eat and drink’?
9“He does not thank the slave because he did the things which were commanded, does he?
10“So you too, when you do all the things which are commanded you, say, ‘We are unworthy slaves; we have done only that which we ought to have done.’”
Very often we applaud ourselves or others in a manner that produces self-righteousness (look who I am because of what I did) or produces works-based (God are you gonna congratulate me because I obeyed you?)
The heart behind this is NOT to beat yourself up because you feel good obeying the father (Jesus said "this is my commandment...that your joy may be full") or to degrade yourself in thinking yourself as not able to recieve or expect blessings.(Hebrews talks about waiting for blessings and promises in faith).
I believe the heart of this is to know our relationship to God as one who valued us enough to ransom us from slavery to sin that brings death and into servanthood to Him personally and slavery to righteousness. (which bring joy and peace)
Without Him, we are nothing and because of His great love for us we get to serve the best master in the universe. We seek to bring Him good pleasure in our service to Him because it was His good pleasure to love, provide and ransom us.
Before you say, "I know this." ask yourself if you live in it? Do you have intimacy with God so established that you don't need "congrats you obeyed" as if its for special christians?
Affirmation by God does not come because you obeyed nor is it awe-inspiring or congrats-worthy to obey the amazing God who chose you to be with and live in and love you when you were in rebellion. We are to boast in Christ who loved us and gave Himself...He chose us and He compels us by His love to obey and thats why only He can get any congratulations.
Simply put, when we obey without expecting congratulations we have had our eyes opened to the grandeur of God and his heart towards us.
The heart behind this is NOT to beat yourself up because you feel good obeying the father (Jesus said "this is my commandment...that your joy may be full") or to degrade yourself in thinking yourself as not able to recieve or expect blessings.(Hebrews talks about waiting for blessings and promises in faith).
I believe the heart of this is to know our relationship to God as one who valued us enough to ransom us from slavery to sin that brings death and into servanthood to Him personally and slavery to righteousness. (which bring joy and peace)
Without Him, we are nothing and because of His great love for us we get to serve the best master in the universe. We seek to bring Him good pleasure in our service to Him because it was His good pleasure to love, provide and ransom us.
Before you say, "I know this." ask yourself if you live in it? Do you have intimacy with God so established that you don't need "congrats you obeyed" as if its for special christians?
Affirmation by God does not come because you obeyed nor is it awe-inspiring or congrats-worthy to obey the amazing God who chose you to be with and live in and love you when you were in rebellion. We are to boast in Christ who loved us and gave Himself...He chose us and He compels us by His love to obey and thats why only He can get any congratulations.
Simply put, when we obey without expecting congratulations we have had our eyes opened to the grandeur of God and his heart towards us.