Dale Ridge church of Christ

“So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, ‘we are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.’” (Luke 17: 10)

“Duty,” said Robert E. Lee, “is the most precious word in the English language.”  Douglas MacArthur, another great military leader, summed up three great motivations for the soldier in his stirring speech, “Duty, Honor, Country.”  Solomon gave this summation of life in Ecclesiastes 12: 13, “…Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.”  We might well rephrase the title of MacArthur’s speech, 
“Duty, Honor, God.”

In our text above Jesus strips away all the veneer and brings us face to face with “duty.” There are times when all of us need to see the stark reality of duty, plain and simple.  It’s the only thing that will move us into action at times.  To be sure, we all have duties, obligations, and responsibilities.  No one else can take care of these for us! Paul said it this way, “For each one should carry his own load (burden). (Galatians 6:5)  This is individual responsibility.  If our “want to” is not as sensitive as it should be and is easily suppressed, the “have to” should come into play.  It’s my duty!  I come to grips with that.

There is nothing wrong in acting out of a sense of obligation.  However, somewhere down the line, and who can say when that is for all people, duty as the prime motivation must give way to deeper and more tender motives such as love, devotion, and commitment in our Christian lives.  Duties must become desires!  We cannot serve God indefinitely simply out of a sense of duty, or necessity.  Those who are young in the faith, or weak in the faith, may act primarily out of a sense of obligation.  As one grows and matures in the faith, he or she comes to act more out of desire than obligation. 

If you have been a Christian for a long time, yet you still act only out of a sense of duty, you should examine yourself to see if you are maturing spiritually as you should.  Here is a suggestion. Prepare a ledger. On one side list the things you love to do, the things you have a desire to do. On the other side make a list of the things you feel you have a duty to do. When those two lists coincide, then you are maturing in your Christian walk.  One of the beautiful provisions in the mental and moral arrangement of our nature is that when we perform something as a duty, it may, by frequent repetition, become a habit and a desire.  This is a part of God’s design to help and enable us to grow and mature our faith so that our duties will become desires.  Then, truly, we obey “from the heart.”

C. S. Lewis succinctly summed up the theme of this article when he wrote, “Duty is only a substitute for love (of God and of other people) like a crutch which is substituted for a leg.  Most of us need the crutch at times; but, of course, it is idiotic to use the crutch when our legs (our own loves, tastes, habits, etc.) can do the journey on their own.”
                                                                                               Charles Cash

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Filed under: Charles Cash on January 30th, 2010