God is Not a Vending Machine

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”-Luke 17:7 

        Ok so I’ve been staring at my bible for what seems to be forever trying to figure this verse out, and I think I might have finally come to a conclusion...maybe

A servant is someone who goes about getting work done for someone else without any regard for themselves or their own opinions, wants and needs. A servant, especially during that day and age had no days off, they didn’t have a set 9am-5pm monday-friday schedule they worked by, they were always on duty.
     So let’s say I’m a servant ( which I technically am as a Christian) it wouldn’t make any sense for me to finish one task and then expect to be rewarded for it, especially when there is still more to do. Why should my master reward me if I haven’t even stepped up and accomplished all my tasks or what He’s asked me to do?
     Even as I’m typing this there is a part of me that’s going “ ouch...that’s a bit harsh”, and it might seem so at first but think about it this way, rewards are supposed to be given out for behavior and actions that at the very least are all encompassing of someone’s responsibility, we do not reward someone with a paycheck for only finishing half of their job responsibilities, and we certainly don’t give them a bonus for it.
    As Christians we many times want to be given rewards, and showered with blessings after only taking a single baby step of faith, sometimes we want God to reward us for less than that, but that’s not how it should be at all.
    We are to work and strive for Him, not for a reward but simply because we are His bondservants ( servants by choice). I need to check my heart when I do things, making sure that my motives are not just because I think if I do something the Lord will bless me, but doing something because1) He’s God and He’s already done more than enough to warrant my complete devotion 2) the Lord has given me the responsibility 3) if I do it in the way that He’s called me to then I’ll bring Glory and honor to Him, that should be my only motivation.
      It’s not to say that God won’t bless us when we are obedient and do as we are told, but that’s up to His discretion. Even if He never blesses us, or rewards us again, He has already done enough, more than enough to warrant our loyalty and servanthood.
     He it not a vending machine, where we put 25 cents worth of obedient in and get a bag of blessings out. He is the Living Creator God that has redeemed us by His Son and has asked us into relationship with Him, may I never lose sight of that.

Application:
    I will spend 20 minutes in prayer tonight asking the Lord to reveal to me the main motivation of my heart, and ask Him to give me a sensitivity to the Spirit, in order to really know when I’m doing something out of a pure heart, or a greedy one.