Luke 17:8 Will he not rather say to him, ‘Prepare supper for me, and dress properly, and serve me while I eat and drink, and afterward you will eat and drink’? (ESV)
Our servant master relationship we hold with Christ is a little different then one of what we perceive in our mind to be true. The image of the master driving the slave with a whip into the ground until the task is complete is not the relationship we hold with our heavenly father. There are many representations of this throughout the new testament. Although the example of Jesus washing the disciples feet in John 13 is a very clear picture of the character of God. In verse 14 he says, “If I then, your Lord and Teacher have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you. Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him.” Our master can sympathize with us and the tasks he places before. God would not ask of us something he is not willing to do himself. So as I think about this, I am also reminded of a different aspect to this same relationship we hold. The very presence of God living within us. Just as Jesus was lead by the Holy Spirit, so we also live the same way. Our relationship is simply letting God do the work through us, Philippians 2:13 “for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.” Taking this into account, coming back to this verse, I look at it now in a spiritual and physical sense. We are to prepare supper for our master, or in our case feed the Holy Spirit within us. We see in Deuteronomy 8:3, “that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.” We need to be in the word, devoting the first fruits of our day, feeding our spirit before we think about feeding our physical bodies. We need to clothe our spirit before we worry about what we will clothe ourselves in for the day. What does this look like, well we have all read it, put on the whole armor of God is what Paul tells us in Ephesians 6. This leaves one last thing, how do we serve while doing all of this. We praise and worship God through our thanksgiving, I Thessalonians 5:18, “Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” I am not being legalistic, and saying this is the formula to salvation. Although God has given us a light burden to carry, and we should view our time of devotion to him of more importance then what our flesh desires. I think if we simply took a second to grasp the fact that it is God living in us. It is him who does the work, then we would see the importance to take that time to line our will up with his will for us.
Application:Tomorrow I will set aside an hour in the morning for my devotions.
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