Read Luke 17:5-10 We are unprofitable servants; we have done that which was our duty to do. - Luke 17:10 Christianity is a religion of doing "more than is expected." The goal of ordinary citizenship is the fulfillment of duty. And a remarkable community would exist where most of the people accepted their civic responsibilities. But the Christian who would win full citizenship will go beyond duty. He will go the second mile; he will give his cloak as well as his coat. He will exceed the established limits of personal obligation. Daily let us strive to do more than is expected of us. Let us do so, not for reward or praise, but for the inner satisfaction of knowing that such a life fulfills the requirements of Christian citizenship. Wherever you are - and Americans today are all around the world representing the United States before all nations; whoever you are with - and Americans are thrown shoulder to shoulder with all kinds of races and peoples; whatever is done - and Americans are seeing life at it's worse and it's best; be the best you can be, and do the best you can do! No man can do more than he is capable of doing. No man can be more than he has the capacity to be. But very few individuals ever make their lives complete. There is so much unused energy, so many unused brain cells, so much of the spirit that never gets expressed. What a goal to serve and reach when we touch the limits of our own qualifications and capacities. Go beyond all former limits and goals. This growth and progress in character and service is the way of winning full citizenship. Prayer Lord, increase our faith! Help me to have confidence in the gifts which thou hast bestowed upon me, and send me out to serve in the will to be and do the best of which I am capable. May Jesus inspire and help me. Amen.

Read Matthew 25:14-30 One of the two which....followed him, was Andrew. - John 1:40 One of the mysteries of Christian history is the power by which men of ordinary gifts have achieved extraordinary things. The New Testament is the greatest of books and the Church the greatest of institutions, but the men who wrote the one and founded the other were for the most part ordinary men. The man called Andrew, first among those who "left all, and followed" Jesus, is an example of the extraordinary use of ordinary gifts. His name is an encouragement and a challenge to us all. Jesus once told a story about a man whose employer had given him a sum of money to invest. It was a small sum. Others have been given more. And he did nothing with it. When time came for an accounting he had made no profit, and his master blamed him with bitter words. Jesus was not a business man, however, and His interest was not in cash, but in character. The five-talent man and the two-talent man invested their trust funds shrewdly and courageously. The one-talent man thought that, being poorly endowed, he need not take the risk or make an effort. The point of the story is the responsibility of ordinary people. In the pressing business of the times we must depend on the one-talent man. Not on him who has much, not on him who has nothing, but on him who has little does the welfare of the nation and the world depend. Great ability, heroism, and work may do much, but they can do nothing without the help of ordinary men & women. Prayer We are ordinary men, O God, but we have an extraordinary Savior. Help us to mirror His life, to use our ordinary talents for Him and see them become extraordinary.

Think about a thing you have been putting off on that honey-do list, and get it done by Tuesday, and make a comment with what you did for your spouse!

Read Isaiah 55:1-7 Those that seek me early shall find me. - Proverbs 8:17 It is saddening how many people turn to God only as a last resort. So long as things are going well with them and they have material comforts they wish, the health they desire, and their friends about them, no thought of God or their relationship with Him enters the vestibule of their minds. It is only when something tragic happens to them that they turn to religion. You recall what the tavern hostess said of Sir John Falstaff: "He cried out, 'God, God, God!' three or four times. Now I, to comfort him, bid him not to think of God; I hoped there was no need to trouble himself with such thoughts yet." The pathos of all this is of course that a man does not and cannot get from God the help he needs in a crisis unless he has made God's acquaintance before. When we are in trouble, we do not expect help from strangers; we expect it from friends. And we are not disappointed. Our friends have shared our joys; they help bear our sorrows. He who calls to God only in emergencies does not always find Him even then. We cannot borrow character in a crisis. We cannot fix up a friendship with God, and expect it to mean very much, on our deathbed. Since, therefore, faith, and character, and inner spiritual resources will someday be indispensable, we should seek them now. Since someday we shall have to cry to the gods of our choice, we should find now One who will not fail us. Prayer O God, our Father, whose love can save to the uttermost, we thank Thee that no life is too marred that Thou canst not redeem it when penitence doth admit Thy grace. But save us from basely presuming upon Thy mercy. Instead of offering to Thee but the dregs of life, help us to give our best to Thee, who hast given Thine all for us. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

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