Gird and Serve
Make ready wherewith I may sup, and gird thy- self, and serve me ... and afterward thou shalt eat and drink’ (Luke 17:8).
There are two aspects of rural industry – agricultural, ploughing; pastoral, keeping the sheep. Between them they also cover our service to men for Christ’s sake. Some of us are engaged in ploughing. In the short wintry days, when the last leaves are falling from the trees, and the skies are covered by dense and dripping clouds, we go forth with our plough, or bearing precious seed. In loneliness, depression, and fear, we tread athwart the furrows and return crying: ‘Who hath believed our re- port, and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?’ Or we are called to keep the flock, seeking the straying, defending the attacked, tenderly nursing the sick and weak. In either of these avocations we often become weary, and in that condition ‘come in from the field’.
When the spell of hard work is finished, how apt are we to relax! Surely, we think, we may give ourselves to the indulgence of natural and innocent appetite! But that is exactly what our Master does not intend, because he knows the subtle temptation of hours of ease. When we return from our labour, he does not say, ‘Go and sit down to meat,’ but he meets us on threshold, saying, ‘Make ready and serve me, till I have eaten and drunken, and afterward thou shalt eat and drink.’
From this parable we are surely to infer that our Lord says in effect: ‘You have been working for me, but I have missed you. You have been so engaged in guiding the plough through the heavy clay, or watching against the lion and bear, that you have forgotten me, and have allowed the hours to pass without speaking to me a single word, or listening for my voice.’
When Christ’s work is done, let us turn to our Lord himself, and minister to him; prepare for him a feast of faith and love and joy; of heart-melody and voice-music. After this we may eat and drink. He will even gird himself, and come forth to serve us (John 13:4-14).
Prayer: We desire, dear Lord, that thou shouldest be more to us than thy work. It is not enough for us to plough thy fields or keep thy sheep; we want to serve thee most of all. Help us to keep thee in view all day, and what- soever our hands find to do, may we do it in love to thyself. Amen.
*Excerpted from Our Daily Walk: Daily Readings by F. B. Meyer (Christian Heritage, 2010).
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