Obligation or Gift?

Obligations flood our lives every day, especially at work.

The Teams message pops up in the corner of your screen, and you have to respond.

The support ticket appears in your inbox.

The text message you can’t ignore hits your phone.

You have one more task to do, one more effort to push out.

On days when we’re feeling great, the demands of work can be energizing. But often, obligations drain us. They sap our mental strength—especially when they pile up. It’s easy to get worn out, and even resentful. If we feel we’re being treated unfairly, so much the worse.

Jesus once addressed people who were used to getting unfair obligations stacked on their shoulders. The occupying Romans would sometimes “recruit” a Jew to help them carry out an errand. The Jew wouldn’t get any pay, but they avoided violence or trouble for their family if they complied.

How did Jesus encourage his Jewish fellow-sufferers to respond? He said this:

If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles.
Matthew 5:41 NIV

That’s not the defiant, emboldening response you might expect.

Or is it?

Jesus turns the tables: Instead of accepting the imposition as an obligation, you can make it a gift. That second mile comes from you. Rather than thinking of the other person as in charge of your life, you can choose to respond by giving them a gift of service.

That doesn’t mean we don’t set boundaries to protect ourselves. But it does mean we don’t let someone else’s attitude toward us dictate our response to them.

Turning an obligation into a gift does three things:

• It gives freedom. No one can force the inner attitude of your heart. When you choose to love, even when someone else treats you poorly, you retain your inner freedom.
  
  
• It safeguards dignity. You’re not just a robot who responds to demands. You’re a human being with the power to love and serve.
  
  
• It gives joy. Loving other people, even when they are unfair to us, increases our joy. You can test this teaching of Jesus out and see whether that proves true in your life.

What obligation can you turn into a gift this week?