Daily Devotional Luke 17:7-10 – The Parable of the Unprofitable Servant – Does God want us to be productive? – Day 330

I’m sorry for not publishing yesterday. This Scripture took a lot of prayer and a lot of research to interpret. God loves you and made you perfect down to the very last hair on your head.

Suppose one of you has a servant plowing or looking after the sheep. Will he say to the servant when he comes in from the field, ‘Come along now and sit down to eat? Won’t he rather say, ‘Prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me while I eat and drink; after that you may eat and drink?’ Will 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 (unprofitable) servants; we have only done our duty.’” (Luke 17:7-10)

Suppose one of you has a servant plowing or looking after the sheep. Will he say to the servant when he comes in from the field, ‘Come along now and sit down to eat? Won’t he rather say, ‘Prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me while I eat and drink; after that you may eat and drink?’ Will 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 (unprofitable) servants; we have only done our duty.’” (Luke 17:7-10)

In regards to being unworthy, 1 Peter 2:9 says, “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him that called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.” God never wants us to think of ourselves as unworthy. Therefore, the translation unprofitable used in the King James Version and others must be correct.

My dream is to get my novel, Denial of the Enemy, published. In doing so, I’ll be telling others about God. But it isn’t the ultimate dream God has placed in my heart. I want to write a new school curriculum that tells children about God’s love and helps them remember by using all their sensory skills. My desire is to start a school that honors God and gives scholarships to at-risk students and to franchise schools so more children know how much God and we love them. This last dream will require a team of people and way more money than I have. It is one that will require the assistance of the Holy Spirit.

Suppose you’re a minister and the congregation are your servants. You won’t tell your servants to sit down and eat, you’ll tell them to teach Sunday School, work in the nursery, sing in the choir or praise group, set up communion, visit the sick, or answer the church phone. Sometimes as a minister, you’ll get a chance to thank your volunteers, and sometimes you won’t. Now suppose you’re the volunteer doing what the minister or his staff has told you to do. You’ve done your duty to the church but have been unprofitable to God.

Ministers, religion, laws, and expectations sometimes direct us. God won’t tell us when to eat. God has a bigger job for me and you, one that requires your creativity, spiritual gifts, and the power of the Holy Spirit. Unless you let God direct you himself, you will be unprofitable.

Father God, let the dream you placed in my heart be known to me and show me how to start your work as I continue this Bible Study. I want my hands to build Your kingdom, so give me the power of Your Holy Spirit every day as I work for you. In Jesus’ precious and holy name I pray, amen.

Daily Devotional Luke 17:7-10 – The Parable of the Unprofitable Servant – Does God want us to be productive? – Day 330

4 thoughts on “Daily Devotional Luke 17:7-10 – The Parable of the Unprofitable Servant – Does God want us to be productive? – Day 330

  1. This is difficult scripture. Unprofitable means we have done what we have been asked to do? But God wants us to go a step further and do a bigger job? Why does he tell the servant to eat and drink after him?

    1. As Christians we are expected to do certain things like love others and help at church. I don’t think it is God telling us to eat and drink after him. I think it is a minister or religion or the law that tells us what to do. It is God who has a bigger plan for our lives, giving us gifts and the Holy Spirit to accomplish His bigger plan. Your questions are important and I meant to answer them within this devotional. I rewrote the last section of the devotional, so I hope it is clearer and answers your questions.

  2. It is clearer and answers my questions. We talked about this and I feel that it is a very difficult scripture. I think that unworthy and unprofitable are the wrong words. If you serve the Lord and have done your duty to the Lord then you should be profitable not unprofitable or unworthy.

    1. I think unworthy is the wrong word because God always wants us to feel worthy. I think when churches pressure us into doing too many things at church, we are missing God’s calling, and we could be unprofitable to God.

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