Slave

'The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. '

John 8:35-36

The word "slave" carries with it a huge weight of embarrassment and pain for much of the history of the United States. Slaves could own nothing because they were owned. They were literally held in bondage to another's will. They couldn't make decisions on their own, they couldn't buy or sell anything, and they couldn't decide on their own to leave or go at their leisure. They were prisoners in a never-ending life sentence. It was a terrible and reprehensible institution that a great many men and women fought to end forever in our country. But the word "slave" also has another meaning to those that are in Christ Jesus. 

If you read the New Testament, the apostle Paul uses the same word, "slave," to describe the followers of Jesus Christ. When I decided to follow Christ, I became a "slave" to God and His righteousness. As he explains in Romans 6:16-23 ESV:

'Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness. I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification. For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. '

Here is the catch 22 for the type of slavery Paul describes: when you are bound to Christ, you become chained forever to freedom. Christ is your owner. Christ has set you free. He released you from your chains the moment you humbled your heart in full submission to Him and His will for your life. Our hearts, before the moment of salvation, are a prison of which, without Christ, there is no escape or release on good behavior. We are "free" in our own eyes, but in the eyes of Christ, we are in complete and utter bondage. Slaves to our emotions, our chains are the sin that we commit every single day, and that is the true slavery in our lives. It is a prison sentence that is headed towards self-destruction without Christ's release. 

A true follower of Christ understands that nothing he owns in this life belongs to him. It is all Christ's. A true follower of Christ understands that he has a Master in his life and that this Master makes all his decisions for him. This follower of Christ possess real freedom through the sacrifice of Christ on Calvary and he understands that he is bound to the heart of God so that when the day comes for ultimate judgment, he won't be cast aside or left alone in his chains. 

As Christians, we are bound to the freedom that only Christ can provide. That is the saving truth that has set me free and if you want it, it can set you free from whatever bondage that is in your life. No matter how bad you might think you are, you are never too bad for Christ. He paid the price and stood in our place to receive the judgment that we truly deserved. He gave us the truth and the truth has set us free.