Our purpose in life is to live for our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. The Bible is filled with instructions on how to do that. Luke 17:1-10 contains some specific teachings on how to live for Jesus.

First, it has to do with holiness. We have been set apart to live for God. This means leaving behind a life that is filled with sin. In verses 1-3 Jesus stresses the importance of not causing anyone else to stumble into a life of sin. We must not lead anyone down the path of sin. If we do, it would be better for us to have a millstone thrown around our neck and be cast into the sea. This is indeed a dire warning not to be a bad influence on those around us. Therefore, Jesus says, “So watch yourselves…” (v.3). We must always strive to be a positive influence on others.

Jesus then talks about forgiveness. We must offer forgiveness to those who sin against us, even if they do the same thing seven times in one day! (vv.3-4). One of the hardest things to do in living for Jesus is to forgive those who do us wrong. It’s difficult because their words or actions really hurt us badly. It is hard to forgive, but then it was not easy for God to forgive us of our sins against him. He had to send his son Jesus to the cross to die for our sins to be forgiven. So, as we have been forgiven, we also must offer forgiveness to others. It is a crucial part of living for Jesus.

In response to his teaching on forgiveness, “The apostles said to the Lord, ‘Increase our faith!’” (v.5). The disciples realized that they were not able to offer the kind of forgiveness Jesus was talking about unless they had a different kind of faith. Jesus answered by saying that they only needed faith as small as a mustard seed to do great things. It seems that it is not so much the size of our faith that matters; our faith must be genuine. Real faith will enable us to forgive those who have sinned against us, and to accomplish much more in our effort to live for Jesus.

Jesus concludes this section of teaching by discussing the duties of a servant. A servant should not expect extra congratulations for simply performing their routine tasks. He or she should realize that they are only doing their duty (vv.7-10). Sometimes we get the impression that we should receive special recognition for reading the Bible and praying every day, gathering for worship every week, tithing, witnessing, being involved in the ministries of the local church and a host of other things that are simply the regular on-going duties of someone who is living for Jesus.

Let’s keep striving to do our best to live for Jesus. After all, he did his best for us when he died on the cross to pay for our sins!