In my whole life, I can never recall a time when my ego was determined to do anything that had, as its primary purpose, the objective of bringing God pleasure. Its persistent resolve has been self-centered. Even the good I have wanted to do had the underlying motive of gaining an advantage for my benefit and gain. I am so grateful that the Lord has brought me to the awareness that I have never been, nor will I ever be, anything but a slave. Everything I was doing for my pleasure was because of my slavery to sin. When Jesus set me free from that bondage, I started to make a transition and I have been progressively becoming a slave to righteousness. The only things that are of any eternal value in my life are the things God does through me as the Holy Spirit leads me. As a citizen of God’s Kingdom, I don’t have any rights. Instead, I have a responsibility to live every moment in absolute surrender to the Lord. At the end of each day, I am still an unprofitable servant. Whatever work I do that amounts to anything is the work God accomplishes through me because, apart from Him, I can do nothing. The good news is that when I am yielding to Him, His river of life flows and I can experience authentic love, peace, and joy.
“Suppose one of you had a servant plowing or looking after the sheep. Would he say to the servant when he comes in from the field, ‘Come along now and sit down to eat’? Would he not rather say, ‘Prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me while I eat and drink; after that you may eat and drink’? Would he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do? 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 17:7-10
“Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted. You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.”
Romans 6:16-18