Paul calls himself a slave or servant of God.

Nowadays, the word slave is quite unfamiliar to us. The year 2007 celebrated the 200^th anniversary of the abolition of slavery in England. According to the dictionary, a slave is the legal property of his/her owner and slaves were forced to obey their owners.

That means the slave had to do everything the owner said. Through the years, this custom was abused terribly, and people were treated extremely badly. Today in some parts of the world slavery is still a reality.

In Old and New Testament times slavery was customary. There are even laws in the Bible to protect slaves and rules for how the slaves had to act towards their owners.

For the Jews, Biblical slavery was a way to reach out to the poor to give them work so that they could eat. These slaves were grateful for this lifeline and out of gratitude were prepared to do anything for their owners.

This is what Paul had in mind. Paul was lost. Paul was enslaved by evil and that boss wasn’t a good boss. That boss oppressed him, made him run after plastic dreams, and stole his peace and joy. Evil tricked him. That’s what evil does, and continues to do today.

Fortunately, Paul literally bumped into Jesus and that opened his eyes. Jesus freed him from evil controlled slavery. Jesus released him from his burden and took it up on his behalf. Jesus freed Paul from the yoke of the evil boss.

And that made Paul dedicate his life to God. Out of gratitude he declared himself a slave of God. He was so grateful for what Jesus had done for him that he felt compelled to do what God wanted him to do, and more. Paul jumped out of his own skin, so-to-speak, into service to God.

That’s what happens when you bump into Jesus. You kneel freely before Him and submit yourself to Him. You put your whole life, with everything you have, into his hands and say: Lord, do with me what You want. You are the potter and I am the clay …

This reminds me of that wonderful song by Johnathan David and Melissa Helser (video available on: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f8TkUMJtK5k), No longer slaves. They sing: “I’m no longer a slave to fear. I am a child of God!” You see, when evil is your boss, you are caught up in fear. But when you’re a child of God, our loving Father takes it away from you.

And they sing: “I am surrounded by the arms of the Father. I am surrounded by songs of deliverance. We’ve been liberated from our bondage. We’re the sons and the daughters. Let us sing our freedom.”

That’s why I want to be a servant of God – because He freed me from the bonds of evil. I want to serve Him with everything in me and do what He wills, because He is definitely a good Father!

Scripture
Titus 1:1-4

Reflection
Under whose control are you?
How can you give God more space in your life?
How does your life show that you are of service to God?

Prayer
Dear Father, I am a voluntary slave in your service. You freed me from the bonds with which sin bound me. I am free and I want to serve you forever. Amen.