Slavery

In the 6^th chapter of Romans, Paul talks about the idea that we used to be slaves to sin, but now we are slaves to God.  Romans 6:16 says:

Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness?

Slavery means total and complete submission.  It means always seeking the will of your master over your own.  It means that you don’t get to choose for yourself.  Your master chooses for you.

Once, we were slaves to sin.  Sin controlled our lives.  It made the decisions for us.  It sought its own best interest rather than ours.  And we let it.  We submitted.  We had no choice.  We weren’t strong enough to fight it.  Sin had the upper hand because it was inside of us.  All of us.  All the time.

And then God sent his Son to destroy the power of sin in our lives.  We no longer have to be a slave to sin, which does not care for our well-being.  The power of sin has been broken.  And, in loving gratefulness for everything that He has done for us (done out of His own love for us), we turn in obedience to God.  When we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior and we ask Him into our hearts, we willingly become His slaves:

But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life.  For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:22-23)

I’ve (Aimee) found myself thinking a lot about Romans 6 lately.  Most of you know that I had been very concerned with getting a new job.  I have bills to pay and my job working with children ended for the summer.  I knew that God would provide for my needs, but that doesn’t mean that I wasn’t worried.  I’m human.  I still worry.

Well, I haven’t written a blog in so long because I got a temp job and it was eating up all of my time.  I got the job quite suddenly and started just a couple of days after the interview.  It wasn’t what I expected, in good and bad ways.  It was a very interesting job, but the hours weren’t very great.  Some days were so long that I found myself getting home, eating dinner, and going to bed, just to get up and go straight back to work.  Not ideal, to put it simply.  I had almost no time for my own time with God (although, of course, He is with us everywhere and always, so I could talk to Him anytime that I wanted, but I didn’t have time for special quiet time with Him), or for my responsibilities at church.

I found that I was allowing myself to be a slave to my paycheck.  I was putting up with it all for the sake of the paycheck.  And do you know what that says about me?  It says that I have a price.  And it says that I value money over my relationship with the Creator of Heaven and Earth.  I didn’t like that.  So I quit.

Don’t hear what I’m not saying!  Working long hours does not always mean that you are a slave to your paycheck.  It all depends on the person and the job.

What I am saying is that, for me, this wasn’t working.  Also, what I am saying is that we need to give consideration to the work that we do, knowing that all Christians are called to have a relationship with God and all Christians are called to ministry (not all are called to go into ministry as a profession, but all are called to minister to others).  If the work that you are doing is not allowing for one or both of those things, then you need to re-evaluate how you go about work.  Whether that just means changing your approach, or if it means changing your work, only you and God can tell.  So give your work to Him.  Put it in His hands.  And seek the will of your Master.  He loves you and wants what’s best for you.