Early one morning, a mother went in to wake up her son. “Wake up, son. It’s time to go to school!”

“But why, Mom? I don’t want to go.”

“Give me two reasons why you don’t want to go.”

“Well, the kids hate me for one, and the teachers hate me, too!”

“Oh, that’s no reason not to go to school. Come on now and get ready.”

“Give me two reasons why I should go to school.”

“Well, for one, you’re 52 years old. And for another, you’re the principal!”

    Sometimes we have to do things even when we don’t feel like doing them! It’s called having a sense of duty. I think perhaps the concept of duty has taken some abuse in the modern church just like it has in modern culture. We sometimes talk about the importance of “doing things for God because we want to, not because we have to.”

They just simply need to be done and we, quite simply, just need to do them.

    I would wholeheartedly agree with the general principle behind this statement. We are saved by grace, through faith and will not earn our way to God’s favor. However, if we only serve God when we really “feel” like it, our service will be minimal indeed. Sometimes the feelings aren’t there, and we need to continue to serve knowing that it is the “right” thing to do. Remember how Jesus put, “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.” (Luke 22:42)

    Some things are simply the right things to do, no matter how we feel about them. They just simply need to be done and we, quite simply, just need to do them. Not because we are heroic, but because we want to be faithful.

“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’? 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’? Does he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded him? I think not. 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.’” (Luke 17:7-10)

© 2001, Alan Smith. Used by permission. This devotional was reprinted from Thought for the Day.

Title: "Serving Out of a Sense of Duty"
Author: Alan Smith
Publication Date: September 4, 2001

Share with Others	Related Heartlight Resources
Print this Article Send it to a Friend Discuss	Duty