Doing more than nothing

Moms, you know how it feels when you tell your children to do chores A, B, and C and they do them, not because they recognize that they need doing, but because you told them to do them. And you know how it feels when you inspect their work and find that even though the chores were done they were done sloppily and with the least amount of care. And! You know how it feels when you come home to a messy house that no one has bothered to clean up because they weren’t told to do it! 

When my kids were like this, I did not feel very appreciative towards them, because I felt they were not appreciative of me.  I felt their only reason for doing only what I told them to do only when I told them to do it was so that they would not have to be exposed to The Wrath of Mom.

I think this is a common problem in most families and reminds me of a couple of parables Jesus taught. The first one is the story of a master who told his servants to do chores A, B, C, and then D.  When they completed these, the master did not throw a party for them just because they did what was demanded.  Jesus said that when the servants were done completing the tasks, they were supposed to look to themselves and recognize that even though they had done so much work, they really only did what was required of them. In Jesus words, they were “unprofitable servants.” 

In the second story, a nobleman was leaving the country for awhile and gave money to ten servants to manage and grow while he was away.  All servants but one took his amount and multiplied it tenfold, fivefold and so on.  The one servant took his money and buried it so it wouldn’t get lost. He said he did so because he was afraid of the nobleman’s harshness.

The nobleman, who was pleased with and awarded the other servants for their work, was indeed pretty harsh on this man. He called the servant a wicked man and ordered his money to be given to the servant who did the most with his.

I do not advocate calling our children wicked when they only do the minimum around the house, but taking stuff away is another matter!

Because we love the Lord, can we not do more than the minimum when it comes to faith?  Can we do more than sit in a pew, recite a creed, and sing a few songs? If we really mean what we say and sing, let’s follow through the whole week long being “profitable servants” and growing the gifts He has given us for His glory and our redemption.