Free, Serve!

Free, Serve!

Live as free people, but do not use your freedom as a cover or pretext for evil, but [use it and live] as bond-servants of God. 1 PETER 2:16 AMP

There are at least three parts to today's extract, and we will do well to keep each part in our hearts, as we live from day to day, working towards the end game of our lives, which is eternal life. First, we are declared as free people. The bigger issue is whether I see myself as such. Do I know what it entails to be truly free? Have I paid the price for this freedom? Let it be known that the only One who claims to be able to set us free indeed is the One called the Truth, and it is in and by Him that we come to the knowledge of God. The world itself is in bondage, tied to the strings of tradition, the usual, the normal and the expected. Only by the Word of God is any man set free from the bondage of the world and set free to fully display the grace and mercy that come from the new status of freedom.

Secondly, with this freedom comes the bit about responsibility. The world interprets freedom as license to roam; God interprets freedom as license to obey God fully and freely. The two are extremes, but either position comes from my understanding of who I am, what I have received, who I work for and where I stand. If I know who I am and who I belong to, obedience and submission to God is easy and unforced. If I struggle with obedience, then maybe, I am yet to fully grasp the value of what I am losing by not submitting.

Thirdly, freedom received by God leads to a commitment to serve. The world sees success from the view point of lordship and dominion; God defines success first from the place of service. It does not matter what you become or where you stand: bishop, pastor, teacher, evangelist, usher, cleaner, sweeper, doorkeeper; what is very essential is that I know that I am bound to service. I may speak from a raised platform or speak to a life in a secret room; it makes no difference, as long as both are ordained by God and commissioned by Him. That's the idea behind the word used in today's extract: 'bond -servant'. It is lifelong service; you never retire or resign, unless you just never understood what you were getting into in the first place.

I believe the most important part of today's lessons is my ownership status. It is when that is settled that other parts of today's extract will make sense. If I am still bound by sin, I can never fulfil God's purpose for my life. Unless and until I surrender to God through Christ, I will not experience the pure joy that comes from knowing that God is working through all I do or say. God wants to display his glory and grace in and through me, but my life must be right for his light to shine through. His time of favour is here.