Choosing to Stay

There is this song by Christy Nockels called, “My Master”. The chorus goes like this:

“I love my master and I will not go free. I take your name and live in liberty. My life is yours forever, I’ll serve you faithfully. I love my master and I will not go free.”

This got me thinking about slavery in the Bible and about something that I had heard about slaves in the old testament. There were slaves of debt and they were bound in slavery until they could pay their debt, but the interesting thing is that they could choose to remain with their master.

Exodus 21:4-6
“If his master gives him a wife and she bears him sons or daughters, the wife and her children shall be her master’s, and he shall go out alone. But if the slave plainly says, ‘I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free,’ then his master shall bring him to God, and he shall bring him to the door or the doorpost. And his master shall bore his ear through with an awl, and he shall be his slave forever.”

Deuteronomy 15:16-17
“But if he says to you, ‘I will not go out from you,’ because he loves you and your household, since he is well-off with you, then you shall take an awl, and put it through his ear into the door, and he shall be your slave forever. And to your female slave you shall do the same.”

This is crazy cool to me. Why? Because of what Paul says in 1 Corinthians…

7:21-23
“Were you a slave when called? Do not be concerned about it. (But if you can gain your freedom, avail yourself of the opportunity.) For he who was called in the Lord as a slave is a freedman of the Lord. Likewise he who was free when called is a slave of Christ.”

I know that Paul is talking about real slaves, but combine these things as we have some awesome imagery.

OK, here I go… This is what I think…

We are in massive debt to God. He requires and expects us to be perfect, but we’re no where near. So, we are enslaved to God, and He gave us the law of which we have fallen short. And, therefore, in debt. So, we must work to get as close to following the law as we can. Mercifully, God knew that we were never going to be able to be the perfect creation that we are supposed to be, so he sent his son, Jesus, and he paid our debt in full. So, even though we cannot pay off the debt, fulfill the law, we are freed. The what Paul says, “For he who was called in the Lord as a slave is a freedman of the Lord.” And we can choose, just like those slaves in the OT to stay with our master. To have our ears nailed to the door. To serve him only for the rest of our lives. Does this make sense? I think so. He is our God and master, and life with him is better than any other life.