Nourishment of Obedience

"And the Lord said, 'Who then is the faithful and sensible steward, whom his master will put in charge of his servants, to give them their rations at the proper time? Blessed is that slave whom his master finds so doing when he comes.'" Luke 12: 42-43 NASB

I understood the most remarkable bit of truth this morning, and can't wait to share it with you. Just as the Army is "looking for a few good men", Jesus is looking  for faithful and sensible servants. (Click the links to read the previous posts in this series.)

As I read this, Jesus has a specific task in mind for these faithful, sensible servants. His plan is to put them in charge of giving rations to his servants at the proper time. It's a different way of saying, "feed my sheep." 

We're taking a little segue, but I'll pull the threads together at the end. In John 4, the disciples urged Jesus to eat. "No," He told them. "I have food you don't know about." The disciples were surprised. "Who brought Him food?" Jesus just smiled. "My food," He explained, "is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to accomplish His work." 

Obedience was as sustaining as food to Jesus. Nourishment to His soul.

If faithful servants are to give rations at the proper time, could it  be that the "ration" is obedience? 

Jesus is searching for faithful, sensible servants who can demonstrate obedience to fellow believers. The servant He needs is one who finds the will of God as nourishing for their soul as food is to their body and can "give" that desire for nourishing obedience to their fellow followers.

I can't give what I don't have.

If I want to be the faithful, sensible steward who is rewarded by God with more responsibility in the Kingdom, I must begin by being the kind of follower who finds obedience nourishing and joyful.

The world has turned the idea of obedience into a hard and torturous idea, but following Christ is the most amazing, fun journey possible. He plants sweet surprise around every corner and wraps even the hard times in a blanket of joy. Jesus turns obedience into nourishment and it's sweet nourishment, indeed.

Rather than focusing on doing, let's focus on being a faithful, sensible servant who finds obedience the greatest adventure of all. It's only then that we can be the servant who serves the joy of obedience to those around us.

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Our Father, help me to follow You with persistence so that I can demonstrate the great joy of obedience to those around me. In Jesus name, amen.