Slaves of the Anointed

“No one can serve two masters, for he will hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other…” (Luke 16:13)

God? Or Satan?

Like it or not, you are serving one of them. When we are born, and before we trust Christ with every aspect of our lives, we are workers of sin. Because it is our nature, we can do nothing but sin. Every word is dark; every thought is sinful.

“We are all like an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags; we all fade as a leaf, and all our iniquities…have taken us away.” (Isaiah 64:6)

Our case is hopeless, right? Yes. There is nothing at all we can do to save ourselves. We prize our ‘goodness’: our pride. We are helpless to do anything but follow Satan and his lies.

And no.

The Christian is bound fast to Christ. His Word, His gospel, His blood is the only thing that can save us from the bondage of sin and Satan. (See Part Three: His Name is Jesus)

Without the blood of Jesus Christ, we are hopelessly followers of Satan. Thanks be to God for His wonderful gift to give us the freedom to choose His gospel!

Because of Christ’s death, we are saved. We are rescued from the ties of sin. He has literally purchased us with His blood. We are His and are eternally indentured to Him.

In her recent book This Changes Everything, Jaquelle Crowe clearly states, “The gospel changes our lives by teaching us that our hearts have only one master. And so, Christians aren't just Jesus followers, they are Jesus worshipers. We owe God every last drop of our passion and service and devotion.”

In short, we are slaves to Christ.

You might say, “Whoa, that's a little harsh. I don't want to be a slave to anyone.”

But we're not just slaves. We’re bond slaves: slaves by choice, love, and duty. As the allegory implies, we are under His authority and He is our master.

Okay, we've established that. What does that mean? How can I live my life so the world knows that I belong to Christ?

Worship Him continually, in whatever you do, what you say, how you act. Make sure you know your reply when you're asked why you believe the Bible. Know His word, His laws, His attributes. Encourage the people around you to look to Christ, the Author and Finisher of our faith.

Let Him be your life support.

<3 Berea

Comments

Betrothed to Christ

I was reading in Exodus and was reminded of the beautiful picture of Christ and His bride. In Exodus 21:7-11, you find a peculiar law about maidservants: 1) She does not bide by the same laws as the menservants, which can leave their master after six years. 2) If her master who has betrothed her to himself is not pleased with her, he cannot sell her to the gentiles, but must let her be redeemed; because he has dealt unfaithfully and deceitfully with her. 3) If her master has betrothed her to his son, he must treat her like his daughter. 4) His son must provide for her food, clothes, and duty of marriage and cannot diminish them if he takes another wife. If he does, the maidservant can leave for free. Weird? Kind 'a, but it makes sense. Then God popped a thought into my head about Hosea. Hosea was a prophet who was told by God to marry a harlot to illustrate God's love for Israel. Now at one point Gomer, Hosea's wife, left him for another man and ended up getti...

A Life Wholly True

...His wives turned away his heart. For when Solomon was old his wives turned away his heart after other gods, and his heart was not wholly true to the L ORD his God... For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites. So Solomon did what was evil in the sight of the L ORD and did not wholly follow the L ORD , as David his father had done. Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, and for Molech the abomination of the Ammonites, on the mountain east of Jerusalem. And so he did for all his foreign wives, who made offerings and sacrificed to their gods. And the L ORD was angry with Solomon, because his heart had turned away from the L ORD , the God of Israel... 1 Kings 11:3-9 Take careful note of this passage. What did Solomon do to make God angry? What was his great sin? Idolatry. I didn't totally realize the concept of this sin until recently. Sure, I ...

Part Two: The Glory of God not Honored

Adam and Eve, the first humans created, committed the first sin at the beginning of time. God had given them a perfect garden in a perfect world, with no sin. He gave them only one rule: not to eat of the tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil which He placed in the center of the garden. The Devil, Lucifer, an angel fallen from heaven, came to Eve as a serpent, and tempted her to eat the fruit of that tree. Eve yielded to him and furthermore Adam did the same. That was the first sin. You may think that if it was you in that situation, you wouldn’t do it. Don’t think that. We are all born with a sin nature. We are pressured with temptation every day. Whether we fall into it or not determines if we sin. From the beginning it was God’s design for us to live with Him in perfect union. We were to reflect and represent God throughout the whole earth and therefore spread His glory throughout the world. God would walk and talk with us. We would be His people and He would be our G...

Eternally Minded

Search This Blog