Job Advertisement: Slave
Galatians 4:1-7 My point is this: heirs, as long as they are minors, are no better than slaves, though they are the owners of all the property; but they remain under guardians and trustees until the date set by the father. So with us; while we were minors, we were enslaved to the elemental spirits of the world. But when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, in order to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as children. And because you are children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” So you are no longer a slave but a child, and if a child then also an heir, through God.
So here’s a question. Would you rather be a slave in your master’s household, or one of his children? I mean, come on, wind the clock back to the first century when the Apostle Paul posed that question to his friends in Galatia.
Galatians 4:1-7: My point is this: heirs, as long as they are minors, are no better than slaves, though they are the owners of all the property; but they remain under guardians and trustees until the date set by the father. So with us; while we were minors, we were enslaved to the elemental spirits of the world. But when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, in order to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as children. And because you are children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” So you are no longer a slave but a child, and if a child then also an heir, through God.
Okay so what’s Paul’s point? There was a time when we were acting as minors. You know how kids are. They don’t want to listen to their parents. They think they know better. When they become teenagers they roll their eyes in the back of their head when mum or dad tells them to do something. You’ve been there, me too.
And at that point, children are no better than slaves. They remain under guardianship, under a bunch of rules and regulations. Almost like the slaves in a sense. They’re not free. When you’re a child, whether at home or at school, you’re told to do something and you have to do it.
And that’s what religion is all about. It’s about following a bunch of rules and that, quite simply is not freedom. But then God sent Jesus to redeem us from those rules. The idea of redeeming a slave, was to pay the price to his or her master, to set them free, to buy them out of their slavery.
In a very real sense, that’s exactly what Jesus did. That’s why He’s able to say – if I set you free you will be free indeed. So many people today believe in Jesus, but they aren’t living in the freedom that He purchased for them.
I wonder, are you one of those? Are you still trying to follow a bunch of rules, kicking and bucking against them, wondering why you constantly fall short? Or do you wake up each morning, open your eyes, remember in your heart that you are a child of the living God because Jesus set you free? Hmm?
Because that’s exactly what He did. He set you free from rules and from your inability to keep those rules.
That’s God’s Word. Fresh … for you … today.
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