I am sure I have talked about this in the past and I know this is a word that just about everyone hates and that is slavery. When that word is mentioned, what was your first image. Was it blacks in shackles? If so, you are being very narrow minded, but I understand.
Israelite’s were slaves to the Egyptians for about 400 years. How long were the blacks slaves in America? Roughly 260 years. However, everyone thinks of slaves as being black. They also think of slaves as being mistreated. While the black slaves were not free to do what they wanted, they were treated better than a lot of other slaves. Notice I did not say great, but those that owned slaves had to pay money for them. These slave owners want the most for their money. The Israelite’s on the other hand were treated as though they were pieces of crap because they were just slaves. They were not bought, they were barely given enough food to survive, and their living conditions were terrible.
I am not saying that the Israelite’s were treated worse than the blacks from Africa, just different. They were both kept from freedom and when they were given their freedom, they were both hunted down by those that did want them to have their freedom. In other words, they were persecuted. Imagine that.
Now, have you ever thought of yourself as a slave? Do you work for money? Do you work for material items? Do you work for being noticed? Is your goal to become famous? Then more than likely you are a slave. Of course you are going to resist this idea and even fight that you are not a slave. However, I am here to tell you that you are a slave.
Have you told your friends that you would help only to back out later because of something else? Have you told your kids that you would help them later or play with them later because you have work to do? Have you told your spouse that you would be there in a few only to take an hour or two or longer because of a video game? I am sorry to say that you are a slave.
Then I encourage you to turn to Jesus. He is the way, the truth, and the life
John 14:6 New International Version (NIV)
6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
He did not come to condemn, but to set us free so we can have life and have it more abundantly.
John 10:10 New International Version (NIV)
10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.
Jesus has set you free from your bonds and has paid the price. Are you willing to accept this?
Romans 6:15-23 New International Version (NIV)
Slaves to Righteousness
15 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? By no means! 16 Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? 17 But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you have come to obey from your heart the pattern of teaching that has now claimed your allegiance. 18 You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.
19 I am using an example from everyday life because of your human limitations. Just as you used to offer yourselves as slaves to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer yourselves as slaves to righteousness leading to holiness. 20 When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. 21 What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! 22 But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.