Tag Archives: slave

You can eat later (Luke 17:7-10) December 14, 2016

Today’s Podcast

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Today’s Bible reading plan:

Read it in a year – Psalms 143-145

see the whole year’s plan [here](http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf)

Today’s Devotional

Luke 17:7-10
Jesus: Imagine this scenario. You have a servant—say he’s been out plowing a field or taking care of the sheep—and he comes in hot and sweaty from his work. Are you going to say, “You poor thing! Come in and sit down right away”? Of course not! Wouldn’t you be more likely to say, “First, cook my supper and set the table, and then after I’ve eaten, you can get something to eat and drink for yourself”? And after your servant has done everything you told him to do, are you going to make a big deal about it and thank him? I don’t think so! Now apply this situation to yourselves. When you’ve done everything I’m telling you to do, just say, “We’re servants, unworthy of extra consideration or thanks; we’re just doing our duty.”

What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?

We get pretty disturbed today with a story like this one. Slavery is not something we think very highly of and we fought an internal battle that almost destroyed our fledgling democracy with the question of slavery as one of its major issues. Today slavery still goes on in the world. I’m not sure we will ever stop it as long as there are people who want cheap labor and there are people that can be exploited to perform that labor.

We talk a lot about human rights and anti-slavery laws both in the United States and internationally, but it still happens. Thousands of women and young boys are sold into the sex trafficking world every day and become slaves to their masters. Imprisoned by fear, drugs, abuse, they cannot escape their plight without considerable help from the outside. But those the hope that it will come is dim because the people that buy their wares are not interested in seeing them freed. They just want their own desires satisfied.

So we cringe as a society when we hear this story. But in Jesus’ day, as in most of the world two hundred years ago, slaves were a common sight. Men, women, and children belonged to others as property. Sometimes they became slaves voluntarily to pay the debt they owed and it was the only way they could relieve themselves of the debt. Sometimes it was the price of one king conquering the military force of another. The subjects of the vanquished became the slaves of the victor. But whatever the cause, men, women, and children found themselves subject to the commands of the master who owned them.

We might get a glimpse of what Jesus was talking about if you think about going to your favorite restaurant instead. You’ve sat down at a booth and can see the hot line from the kitchen. The waiter brings you a glass of water and a menu. He takes your order, but then sits down at the table across from you and begins to eat his lunch. In a few minutes the chef puts your food on the hot line under the lights to keep it warm and signals your waiter that your food is ready. But instead of getting your food, he keeps eating, pulls out his smartphone and reads a few messages. He sends a few texts and then goes and gets a piece of pie for dessert. All the while, your food is getting either nice and soggy or overdone under the warming lights.

Would you tell the waiter he was doing a good job? Would you leave him a generous tip? Would you ask specifically for his table the next time you come because he has become your favorite waiter? No, of course not. If you haven’t already said some choice words to the young man, you’ll probably want to see the manager on the way out and give him your opinion of his worthless wait staff. You might even ask for a refund on your meal since you had to watch it ruin under the warming lights while your waiter enjoyed himself eating on your time.

The waiter should have served you first, right? Customers first in the customer service world, right? Pay attention to those who are paying your salary, right? The waiter obviously didn’t get the memo on what his duties and responsibilities were. He should have been happy to have a customer sitting at one of his tables. It meant money was coming into the restaurant. It meant he would get paid for doing his job and if he did it well, he would probably get a tip from his customers. Besides, he took the job. If he didn’t want to wait tables and serve people, he shouldn’t have taken the job in the first place. But he did and now he was shirking his responsibilities.

It’s a good thing he wasn’t a slave. He’d be beaten or sold or just killed. As a waiter, if this was a normal pattern, I expect he won’t be a waiter very long. He’ll probably find himself on the outside of that restaurant pretty soon. But if he wants to keep his job, he’d better shape up.

So what about our responsibilities as Christians? We have duties and responsibilities God gave us when He commissioned us to go make disciples. Should we complain about it? Take a lesson from the slaves and the waiter. If you don’t like what He asks you to do, remember who He is and who you are. That should put things in perspective pretty quickly. It’s time to serve, you can eat later.

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.

A slave, like it or not! (Romans 6:15-23), May 25, 2015

Today’s Podcast


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Today’s Scriptures

Today’s Bible reading plans include:

Ready – Romans 6:15-23
Set – 1 Kings 10; Romans 6
Go! – 1 Kings 10-11; 2 Chronicles 9; Romans 6

Romans 6:15-23
15 So what do we do now? Throw ourselves into lives of sin because we are cloaked in grace and don’t have to answer to the law? Absolutely not! 16 Doesn’t it make sense that if you sign yourself over as a slave, you will have to obey your master? The question before you is, What will be your master? Will it be sin—which will lead to certain death—or obedience—which will lead to a right and reconciled life? 17 Thank God that your slavery to sin has ended and that in your new freedom you pledged your heartfelt obedience to that teaching which was passed on to you. 18 The beauty of your new situation is this: now that you are free from sin, you are free to serve a different master, God’s redeeming justice.

19 Forgive me for using casual language to compensate for your natural weakness of human understanding. I want to be perfectly clear. In the same way you gave your bodily members away as slaves to corrupt and lawless living and found yourselves deeper in your unruly lives, now devote your members as slaves to right and reconciled lives so you will find yourselves deeper in holy living. 20 In the days when you lived as slaves to sin, you had no obligation to do the right thing. In that regard, you were free. 21 But what do you have to show from your former lives besides shame? The outcome of that life is death, guaranteed. 22 But now that you have been emancipated from the death grip of sin and are God’s slave, you have a different sort of life, a growing holiness. The outcome of that life is eternal life. 23 The payoff for a life of sin is death, but God is offering us a free gift—eternal life through our Lord Jesus, the Anointed One, the Liberating King.

Today’s Devotional

From today’s background scripture God might say:

To Me the choice I give you is simple, eternal life or death. Become a slave to sin or live obediently to Me. Live a life of shame or a life filled with hope and joy. The choice seems so simple. Why would anyone choose death over life, sin over obedience, shame over joy? I don’t understand. Everyone since Adam wanted complete control over life. The only problem is that it can’t happen. You’re not God. The only thing you can control is yourself and you can’t do that very well.

You think you were free to do whatever you wanted, but you were a slave to sin and disobedience, that selfishness that drove you every moment. But when you come to Me, I free you from that path. I give you the hope and joy I intended for you when I created you.

Paul got it right when he said you will serve as a slave to either sin or Me. Which do you choose? Slavery to sin leads to guilt, pain, suffering, and death. I won’t tell you that you won’t suffer in this world if you follow Me. You will, just as I suffered. But the suffering is only for a moment of time compared to eternity. Just a flash, and I’ll be with you to help you through it. I won’t let you go through it alone.

Still having trouble with your choice? I dare you to make a list of the pros and cons of each choice, following Me or being in control of yourself. See how your assets and liabilities fall out. See what benefits you gain from Me or from your selfish path. Discover what you can do on your own or what you can do by following My advice. Be honest in your appraisal, though. Remember to take into account what you can really control versus what I control as you make your assessments.

For instance, you have little or no control over your health. You can’t control accidents that might injure you or cause irreparable damage to you. You cannot control the economy and so your ability to gain or sustain wealth or material goods. You have no control over your friends and relatives other than what little they might allow you to have. You can’t control politics or society and how it affects your life. When you really think about it, you have relatively little control over life.

You can, however, choose whether you will follow Me or your own selfish whims. So which will it be? You know the best choice. Will you be wise enough to make it?

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.