Slaves of God

“But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life.” – Romans 6:22.

One might wonder why the bible had to use a “derogatory” word like slaves to explain our relationship with Him. Truly, Jesus said He no longer calls us servants but friends (John 15:15). However, Paul the writer of Romans in his letter was explaining to the church in simple human terms, how we were once slaves to sin and only fulfilled the desires of the flesh. A slave is a person who has no rights or self-interests but only does the bidding of the master. This was our situation when we were living in sin, and this is the case for those who have not made Jesus their Lord and Savior.

But NOW. The word is NOW! We have been set free from sin. We can no longer live as we did in the past. We are now new in Christ. We can no longer obey our fleshly lust or do things as it pleases us. We are now slaves, not of sin, but of God. That means that the way we gave ourselves freely to sin, we must give ourselves freely to righteous living. Verse 16 of the chapter tells us that we are slaves to whomever we present ourselves to obey. 

Now, as slaves of God, God’s interest becomes our interest, His will is our will, and His ways are our ways. There is no in-between. This does not imply in any way that we’re forced to do something against our will. It means that as long as we choose to obey God from our hearts, we are given to Him. If we in turn choose to obey our sinful desires, we have given ourselves to sin, the evil master. But as people who have been set free and called out of darkness into God’s marvelous light, we must live unto God, not unto ourselves (2 Corinthians 5:15). Jesus is our perfect example of being a “slave”. He left all His glory to do the will of the Father on earth. Not out of coercion, but out of love. He delivered us from the slavery of the world so that we can become slaves of God, with love.

Who do you choose to obey today?