Slave or Servant

Black Friday is here, and the shopping frenzy has begun. The media claims that shoppers are a bit cautious this year, but that probably won't stop most people from overspending and getting deeper and deeper into debt.

Credit card companies and banks don't even bother to ask any more if you have outstanding debts as they try to get you to sign up for yet another card. They just assume you do and can't wait to transfer all of your balances from some other company's plastic to theirs (at a better rate of interest, of course). It truly blows their minds when you can tell them you are debt-free.

Yet really none of us are debt-free, even if we don't owe the bank a cent. All of us owe somebody. We are indebted to our teachers, our friends, our families, and countless others for so many of the things we take for granted such as our knowledge of how things work, our security in relationships, and most of our core values. We owe our very lives to our parents, and underpinning all of these life blessings is the grace of God which makes all good things possible for us.

Much as we would like to believe that we are lords of our own destinies, the reality is that we were not only born indebted but also into servitude. The good news is that we have a choice of who or what we will serve, and whether that can be defined as servanthood or slavery.

The words servant and slave have often been used interchangeably, but there is a key difference between the two. A servant is devoted to who or what he serves while a slave is dominated by them. Masters such as our addictions, financial debts, or even our own overriding passions dominate us, requiring us to meet their needs whether we choose to or not once we have submitted to them. In contrast, God asks for our devotion and love as we serve him and his kingdom, both of which are our choice.

Ultimately, the question is not whether you will serve or not, but whether your life will be that of a servant or a slave. You choose.

"No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money."

--Matthew 6:24 (NIV)