To Be a Slave

What does it mean to be a slave?  What does it mean to be a servant of Jesus Christ?  Author and singer Michael Card notes that almost half of Jesus’ parables involve slaves or slave-like characters.  The Apostle Paul typically referred to himself as a slave of Christ, and used the term “Master” when speaking of the Lord Jesus.

In our society, the word slave has really only a negative connection: suffering, hard labor, loss of human rights.  But the truth is, we are God’s creations.  We have been purchased by the blood of His Son Jesus Christ, and we belong to Him.

We are slaves, whether to our earthly passions or to Christ.  Whether we admit it or not.  Whether we believe it or not, we are slaves.  Addiction is slavery.  Lust is slavery.  Work-aholism is slavery.  Fear is slavery. 

In Christ, there is a freedom to be found in serving Him alone as our Master.  In his book A Better Freedom, Michael Card notes that many African-American Christians call Christ “Master,” which is a holdover from the days of slavery in this country, when the slaves often called Jesus Master, to remind themselves that Christ is their true master, and they are enslaved to Him. 

Their earthly masters, though they may have had control over the bodies of those slaves, did not have eternal ownership.  That belonged only to Jesus Christ.

We often feel trapped by addictive behavior.  We seek pleasure, money, peace, health.  But these things are fleeting, and just when we think we have found what we are looking for, it vanishes, and a new desire burns within us, a new concern arises that instills fear within us, which is Satan’s favorite method of control over us (If you keep the people afraid of you, they will be easy to manipulate).

We seek freedom, but in Christ, there is a better freedom, and that is in slavery to Him.