Which Slavery will You Choose?

In Exodus 21:5-7 (NLV) it says, “But the slave may declare, ‘I love my master, my wife, and my children. I don’t want to go free.’ If he does this, his master must present him before God. Then his master must take him to the door or doorpost and publicly pierce his ear with an awl. After that, the slave will serve his master for life.”

There have been times when I have felt like a slave – when I have washed a oodles and oodles of dirty dishes, changed a boat load of dirty diapers, wiped runny noses, dragged myself out of bed to soothe a crying baby and rocked for hours in the middle of the night when everyone else was sleeping – and it makes me wonder . . . why would anyone willingly choose to be a slave for the rest of their life?

Why would someone give up EVERYTHING to serve their master? As a slave, you have no rights, no free will, and no ability to make choices for yourself or your family. A slave surrenders their will to the will of their master.

Centuries after this slave law was written a free man by the name of Paul declared himself a slave. It was how he defined himself over and over again in his letters.

Paul was a zealot for the Jewish faith and he sought to kill all Christians because he viewed them as traitors. He thought he was doing right, that he was pleasing God by his actions but it wasn’t until he met Jesus Christ face to face on the Damascus road that he realized the destructiveness of his sin. It was on that road that Paul became a slave. He surrendered his will to the One True Lord. From that time on Paul never looked back, he was completely and irrevocably sold out to Jesus Christ, his Master and Lord and his choice to become a slave of Jesus Christ has forever changed the course of history.

Before Paul met Christ, even though he was a free man, he was a slave - a slave to sin and its power. Listen to what he says in Romans 6:20-22 (NLV) “When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the obligation to do right. And what was the result? You are now ashamed of the things you used to do, things that end in eternal doom. But now you are free from the power of sin and have become slaves of God. Now you do those things that lead to holiness and result in eternal life.”

When Paul saw himself for who he really was and understood the price that Christ had paid for him, he willingly surrendered his heart to the true Master of his soul. He exchanged the slavery to sin that leads to eternal death for the slavery of Jesus Christ and eternal life.

What Paul discovered about this slavery is that it isn’t slavery at all! Slavery to Christ sets you free – free from the power that sin has had over your life and free from the guilt and shame.

Have you been set free, like Paul, from the power of sin in your life? Are you allowing the guilt and shame of past deeds to keep you from experiencing freedom in your life? Have you relinquished your rights and surrendered them to the True Master? Is there something holding you back from giving your all to Jesus Christ?

Surrender yourself to the doorpost of your soul and allow God to claim you as His own? In surrendering, you will find freedom and in dying you will find life!