Bond-servant

Suppose your servant says, “I will not leave you,” because he loves you and your family, and he has done well with you. In that case, take an awl and push it through his earlobe into the door. After that, he will be your servant for life. And do the same for your female servants. Deuteronomy 15:16-17

WHEN WE INTRODUCE ourselves to someone we’re meeting for the first time, we usually weigh carefully what we’ll say about who we are and what we do. We want our words to give us some credibility and status in that person’s estimation. This insight into ourselves adds meaning to the way Paul, James, Peter, and John refer to themselves at the beginning of their letters in the New Testament. They introduce themselves using a status described in the Old Testament book of Deuteronomy. In Romans 1:1, James 1:1, 2 Peter 1:1, and Revelation 1:1, each of these writers introduces himself the same way —as a “bond-servant” or “bond-slave” of Jesus Christ. It’s as if they were saying, “The most important thing about me is that I’ve made Jesus Christ my master. Obeying him is the focus of my life. He is so precious to me that I’ve willingly bonded myself to him as his servant for life.”

A bond-servant is not just a slave, but a slave who has willingly committed himself to serve a master he loves and respects even after he has been given the freedom to go. This kind of slavery is chosen, not imposed; it’s the result of freedom, not compulsion.

My Lord and Master, I realize that you are not forcing me into slavery. Becoming your bond-servant is my choice. And my choice is made. I want to relinquish my independence, surrender my will, and declare my loyalty to you.

And as I parent ________, so concerned about what he will accomplish and who he will become, help me to keep this central identity as a bond-slave to Jesus Christ at the heart of my dreams and desires for him. May ________ sense from me during our conversations and obligations today that my greatest desire for him is that he would be defined by his yieldedness to Jesus Christ.