Unprofitable Servants by Dudley Marvin Canright

Pacific Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Oakland, California · Feb 14, 1878

Unprofitable Servants.

By Dudley Marvin Canright

JESUS once said to his disciples: "When ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do." How is this? God has created us to glorify him, to love him, and to obey him. He has given us a law that is perfect, holy, just, and good. It is the duty of every man to strictly do all that God has enjoined upon us without once disobeying. If any man could do this, he would simply do what was his duty to do from his birth to his death. But all have sinned, all have disobeyed God. Hence, when we come to the Lord to become his servants, we stop our disobedience and begin to do those things which are commanded us. But from this time out, if we do the very best, we can only do just what it was our duty to do provided we had not sinned at all. Hence our obedience now cannot pay up for our disobedience in the past. God must freely forgive us for all our past sins, and then for the future we can only do what we always ought to have done.

Take an illustration: Mr. A trades at the store of Mr. B for several years. He gets in debt more or less each year, till finally A owes B $100. Now A has nothing to pay that with, but is just able to meet the wants of his family from day to day. So B says to A, If you will now pay me down each time for what you get as you go along, I will give you that debt. A gladly accepts this kind offer and continues to trade with B. Now though A pays the just value of every article he gets of B, yet B could truthfully say that A is an unprofitable customer.

So with us: we are, to use the illustration, in debt to the law of God. We cannot possibly pay that debt by simply not getting into debt any more. So God offers to forgive us that debt provided we will strictly obey him in the future. This we promise to do. But if we do all this, even then we are unprofitable servants, we are only doing that which we always ought to have done. D. M. C.