The conclusion, when all has been heard, is: fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person. – Ecclesiastes 12:13.

“So you too, when you do all the things which are commanded you, say, ‘We are unworthy slaves; we have done only that which we ought to have done.'” – Luke 17:10.

Not Just What’s Expected

The mule is a genuinely intelligent animal that has proved its superiority to the horse in durability, memory, and dietary control. Pack mules have been used for years to lug gear for exploratory and recreational expeditions. They will carry seventy-five pounds on each side – but only seventy-five pounds. According to one veteran packer, if you put additional weight on a mule, it will buck the load off, refuse to move, or head for a tree to scrape the load off. These animals have sensitized their inner scales to the ounce and will haul nothing more.

Jesus warned about the mule in each of us: the spirit of mere duty that produces only what is expected and nothing more. He encourages us to go beyond that, to love Him with the same unqualified depths that He loves us. The mule has an excuse – it’s only a mule. What possible excuse could we have who are made in the image of God, redeemed in the likeness of Christ, and possessed even now of the Holy Spirit?

Courtesy of Speaker’s Sourcebook of New Illustrations by Virgil Hurley copyright © 1995 by Word, Incorporated. Used by permission.

*Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, Copyright © 1960,1962,1963,1968,1971,1972,1973,1975,1977,1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.

Applicable Quotations

Many would save themselves much sorrow and trouble if they would only remember the question—“What does it cost?” – J.C. Ryle

O speak nothing, act nothing, think nothing, but as you are taught of God! – John Wesley

If Jesus’ example is the example for the world to follow, it certainly must be feasible to follow it. But we need to remember this great fact. After we have asked the Spirit to tell us what Jesus would do and have received an answer to it, we are to act regardless of the results to ourselves. – Charles Sheldon

Let the Church awake to her calling to train the feeblest of her members to know that Christ counts upon every redeemed one to live wholly for His work. This alone is true Christianity, is full salvation. – Andrew Murray