Whom Do You Serve?

What does it mean to be a bond-servant?  Is it even something worthwhile?  Well, I guess that would depend on who you are a bond-servant to.  You see, we all serve something.  We serve God or we serve ourselves.   We love God or we love money.  We love God or we love our car.  We long to please God or we long please ourselves. 

Paul, James, Peter, Jude, Tychicus, Epaphras, Christ were all named bond-servants in Scripture.  It's not an exhaustive list, but that's a pretty good list of people to emulate.  Especially, the last one I listed.  The English word bond-servant is translated from the Greek word doulos.  The original Greek definition of doulos means slave, not servant.  When I think of a servant, I envision a butler.  The word doulos is so much deeper than someone who occasionally answers a door and keeps certain rooms in the house tidy.  Doulos means slave.  To be a slave to Satan, who is an evil taskmaster, brings up visions of a vicious slave owner, who tortures, abuses and starves his slaves to keep them under subjection to him.  He may promise good things to them, but in the end, he can only really offer them pain and death.  To be a slave to Christ, who is a perfectly holy master, brings to mind someone who loves those in his household and views his "doulos" as an extension of his family.  He has requirements for his doulos, but He desires to have a relationship with each and every one of them.  He even brings them into his household to sit at His table!

John MacArthur very eloquently explains (much better than I can ever hope to) what it means to be a slave to Christ.  And it is so much deeper than what is being preached in many churches today.  

If you really desire to serve and love Christ with all your heart, soul and mind, I would encourage you pick up a copy of "Slave: The Hidden Truth About Your Identity in Christ" by John MacArthur.  It can be read rather quickly, but I would encourage you to read it more than once so that you will have a chance to properly digest the biblical truth contained within it. 

I am getting ready to start reading it agan!