Matthew 6:1 "Be careful not to do your acts of righteousness before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven."
This goes back to my motive for service. So often in my selfishness, even acts that seem good, seem like they are dying to self, are really done for an ulterior motive. Maybe I am even subconscience of it but how many times do I secretly hope that my good deed did not go unnoticed or unappreciated. This is far from the attitude of the servant in Luke 17 who did his duty without regard to what it personally cost him and didn't even expect a thankyou.

It is clear in this verse that I cannot serve myself and God at the same time. If I relish the approval of man, I will desregard God's. Paul says in Galatians 1, "Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ." Is my motive out of gratitude to please the one who I owe everything too? Man's approval is temporary and trite. But approval from God has eternal worth.

I am more naturally a people pleaser. I want to make others happy, I crave their approval. But the Lord's opinion is the only one that counts. "Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me... I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'" And later Jesus also says, '"I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.'"

These verses are heavy. It shows how my true love and service for God will be measured by my love for the least, the very least. The proud one, the one who is looking out for his own reputation will not bend the neck to serve the least. It costs something to serve the least. It costs a lot of ourselves and takes love that can only come from the God of love.

I want the love of the Lord to flow through me so that I will serve him with abandon to all else, including approval from man. Why should I serve the least of these? Because I am the least of these, yet Jesus extended his love and grace to this pitiful, feeble, blind, and wretched human, who was lost yet didn't even know it.