Slave or Servant?

When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the obligation to do right. And what was the result? You are now ashamed of the things you used to do, things that end in eternal doom. But now you are free from the power of sin and have become slaves of God. Now you do those things that lead to holiness and result in eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:20-23 NLT)

Most of us have heard that the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life. How many of us have actually read the previous verses? We WERE slaves to sin - having absolutely NO obligation to do right but choosing quite frequently to do whatever it was that gave us satisfaction or a thrill. The result was an overwhelming load of guilt and shame. A burden we weren't designed to carry! Slaves don't really cater to the 'obligation' to more than one master, do they? They serve one, following whatever desires that master dictates. Our 'obligation' to sin didn't leave much room to be 'obliged' to do what God desired of us.

Shame and guilt are two very heavy burdens to carry, especially in our emotions and thought life. These two areas of our nature can be drastically affected by that weight. We might not realize just how much of a burden these things are until we are finally free from their weight! As we said yes to Jesus, that weight was lifted. There was no longer any obligation to do the things that our sin nature dictated. Instead, we find a new way of living - obliged to do what is right. The emotional release that comes from being out from under the burden of our guilt and shame is almost immeasurable. The order that comes within our thought life brings a tremendous sense of peace and assurance.

These are the outcome of our trust in Jesus. We place our trust in his promise to set us FULLY and FINALLY free. In so doing, we move out of our position as slaves to sin and into our position as servants of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Notice that I used the word 'servant' instead of slave. A servant does what his master requests because he WANTS to, not because he HAS to. A slave is under an obligation to do as his master says - he has no freedom at all. A servant is totally free, yet he chooses to serve without remorse, regret, or fear. As servants of the One True God, we give our lives freely to do as he commands. We are no longer obligated to sin's demands - we choose to follow those that emanate from our loving Lord's heart. Just sayin!