;
and afterwards thou shalt eat and drink? Doth he thank that servant
because he did the things that were commanded him? I trow not. So
likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are
commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants; we have done that
which was our duty to do."

I see here five marks of the bond-servant. First of all, he must be
willing to have one thing on top of another put upon him, without any
consideration being given him. On top of a hard day in the field the
servant in the parable had immediately to prepare his master's meal,
and on top of that he had to wait at table--and all that before he
had had any food himself. He just went and did it, expecting nothing
else. How unwilling we are for this! How quickly there are murmurings
and bitterness in our hearts when that sort of thing is expected of
us. But the moment we start murmuring, we are acting as if we had
rights, and a bond-servant hasn't any!

Secondly, in doing this he must be willing not to be thanked for it.
How often we serve others, but what selfpity we have in our hearts
and how bitterly we complain that they take it as a matter of course
and do not thank us for it. But a bond-servant must be willing for
that. Hired servants may expect something, but not bond-servants.

And, thirdly, having done all this, he must not charge the other with
selfishness. As I read the passage, I could not but feel that the
master was rather selfish and inconsiderate. But there is no such
charge from the bond-servant. He exists to serve the interests of his
master and the selfishness or otherwise of his master does not come
into it with him. But we? We can perhaps allow ourselves to be "put
upon" by others, and are willing perhaps not to be thanked for what
we do, but how we charge the other in our minds with selfishness! But
that is not the place of a bond-servant. He is to find in the
selfishness of others but a further opportunity to identify himself
afresh with His Lord as the servant of all.

But there is a fourth step still to which we must go. Having done all
that, there is no ground for pride or self-congratulation, but we
must confess that we are unprofitable servants, that is, that we are
of no real use to God or man in ourselves. We must confess again and
again that "in us, that is in our flesh, there dwelleth no good
thing," that, if we have acted thus, it is no thanks to us, whose
hearts are naturally proud and stubborn, b