God Doesn't Owe Me A Thank You

Luke 17:7-10
And which of you, having a servant plowing or tending sheep, will say to him when he has come in from the field, ‘Come at once and sit down to eat’? ⁸ But will he not rather say to him, ‘Prepare something for my supper, and gird yourself and serve me till I have eaten and drunk, and afterward you will eat and drink’? ⁹ Does he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded him? I think not. ¹⁰ So likewise you, when you have done all those things which you are commanded, say, ‘We are unprofitable servants. We have done what was our duty to do.’”


I read this today in my devotions and was taken aback. Jesus gives us the example of a servant who goes out and plows the fields, tends the sheep, works and sweats all day and when it's lunch time he doesn't even get a break. He has to put on his apron and go make lunch for his master and then after his master is full he can sit down and eat what is left and he doesn't even get a thank you for what he did. Then Jesus says that even as spiritual servants of God, we are going to work and sweat for Him and His kingdom but even after all that we do we are still going to say to ourselves, "we are unprofitable servants". Why??? At first glance this sounded like abuse to me, it seemed unfair. What is Jesus' point here?


After doing some study I began to realize what Christ is trying to teach us. The point of the matter is, God doesn't owe us anything. We don't deserve even a thank you for what we do for Him. We can win thousands to Christ, work and sweat to build His kingdom and we will still be "unprofitable servants". Why? Because we owe Him everything and He owes us nothing. It is our DUTY to serve Him. We can never pay back our debt to Christ for what He did for us on the cross. He gave His life, His blood, His all. It is only my duty to give Him my all in service. God will never be indebted to us, but we will always be indebted to Him. Even if I were to win a million souls to Christ, all of my work would seem unprofitable, like a drop in the bucket compared to what God has done for me. God doesn't need anybody, but we sure do need Him. I may never hear a thank you from His lips but I sure do want to hear, "Well done thou good and faithful servant".