I just left a Men’s Bible Study. Wow! Was it good! What was really cool was I saw something I never noticed before. (You Bible students know what I mean. It happens all the time) We were looking at what a bondservant was. Every time you start a new study in a New Testament epistle you look at the word “a bondservant of the Lord.” Eight of Paul’s epistles talk about a bondservant.
So we turn to Exodus 21:2-6 where a Hebrew slave after 7 years can go free. Do as he pleases. But at the end he wants to stay and serve his master forever, thus a bond servant. As a sign or ceremony of this commitment the servant has his ear lobe pierced against the master’s door post.
I’ve read this a number of times but something caught my heart. (I love it when that happens) The reason this servant stays caught my heart. IT IS BECAUSE OF LOVE! It wasn’t the best thing for him. It was the best thing for others.
BECAUSE I LOVE MY MASTER – God is good! He has loved man kind in the greatest demonstration of love: Giving His only Son to die in our place. We, in our sins owed a penalty of death. God in His love paid that penalty. He paid by sending His Son to die for us. He died on a cross. What a demonstration of love. I don’t think I‘ll ever fully know what that cost feels like or really is. I do know this much, that I need to demonstrate sacrificial living more. The best thing I can do for my God is to be a “bondservant of the Lord.”
BECAUSE I LOVE MY WIFE – I love my wife for so many reasons. Many are selfish; because I get, or she does for me. But this bondservant thing is a non selfish commitment. It isn’t for me. It is because I love my wife. Ephesians 5 tells us to sanctify, nourish, and cherish her. The best thing I could do for my wife is to be a “bondservant of the Lord”
BECAUSE I LOVE MY CHILDREN – Someone said, “You have children to take care of you when you are old.” What a selfish reason. I believe you have children because they are a gift from God. And that gift needs to be trained and loved. Children need to see adults not as demonstrated in movies or television. They need to see a man, a husband and a father who has laid down liberty for their God, for their mother, and for them. How else do children learn not to be selfish? The best thing I could do for my children is to be a “bondservant of the Lord.”
Just re-thinking why I’m a bondservant.
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