“Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus…”  -Philippians 1:1

You know, we all really treasure freedom.  Each and every person in the U.S. loves their freedom, and you can bet that those in other areas of the world who don’t have freedom certainly long for it.  We know from scripture that Christ has freed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us (Galatians 3:13).

However, scripture also reveals to us that we are all slaves as well.  Romans 6:16 states, “Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness?”

Read more, por favor….

In Philippians 1, Paul uses the Greek word, doulos, to describe himself and Timothy.  This word is translated as bondservant, and in some cases, slave.  Doulos is also used in many of Paul’s letters.  In fact, the word is used over 100 times in the New Testament.

A bondservant is one who surrendered wholly to another’s will and thus devoted to another to the disregard of his own interest.  This was to describe Paul and Timothy’s relationship with Christ.

Now I know this word is not uncommon to some folks.  Heck, I’m actually related to a couple of people who have “doulos” tattooed on themselves. My previous church named their college ministry “Doulos” as well.  So, if we refer to ourselves with this word, we’re saying that we have completely surrendered all personal interest in favor of serving a master’s will…no matter what the cost.  And the fact is, we’re all a slave to something.  We all have a heart to serve.  It just tends to be ourselves.  Wanna know if you have a servant attitude?  All you have to do is look at how you react when you’re treated like one.

So, what are you a slave to?  What do you devote yourself to without regard to the cost?  Is it Christ, or is it something else?

image: sam