Thursday, October 08, 2009

Want to be a slave of Christ?


When Paul and Timothy write to the believers in Philippi they introduce themselves with a strange description. They describe themselves as "Slaves to Christ".

I realise that slavery still exists in this world and it is abhorrent today that it has ever been and it should be fought in every for it manifests its self. But to me born and brought up in a small village in Scotland the living my life in the relative luxury of small town in England my life is far removed from the stench of slavery.

To these guys though in the first century it was an every day way of life. They knew all to well the weight of their words. Was the first place that Paul preached on European soil it was a roman colony a place where well to do Romans settled. Even members of the elite Praetorian Guard "retired" there. So it would seem that most of them owned slaves.

So Paul & Timothy introduce themselves as just that slaves of Christ. Bought for a price, owned lock stock and barrel, all rights gone & subject to every command for life.

Slavery would not have been their ultimate goal in life but Paul pulled no punches.

Recently it has become more vogue to describe ourselves as followers of Christ, which is great, but maybe we should start using "Slaves of Christ".

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