Pioneer Files: The Greatest Lesson

 

There's one thing our children really need to learn.

Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? 

-Romans 6:16 (NIV)

Through the wonders of DNA, I've learned a lot about my ancestors. I've discovered that many of them came early to this country. Some were bond-servants. Some were slaveowners. Others became share-croppers. Members of my family fought on both sides of the Civil War.

From this mixed and messy lineage I have learned the horrific price our nation paid for the sin of slavery.

One of the most basic human desires is the yearning to live free from oppression. But bondage takes many forms, and it is a terrible thing to be enslaved to our own appetites. Sin creates chains only God can break.

No one has to live this way.

When Jesus Christ was born, the world lay chained to sin. To rescue us, the Creator did the unthinkable. He left the glory of heaven, stepped into His creation, entered time and space, and inhabited a human body. He emptied Himself and purposely became a servant for us, in order to purchase our redemption.

Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men.

- Philippians 2:5-7 (NKJV)

Imagine creating two clay pots, leaving your nice living room to live in one of the pots, and allowing the other pot to break you. 

For Christ, there was much more. As His creation crucified Him, He suffered the deeper agony of God's fury poured upon Him in our place. He didn't have to do it. He cared that much. "For God so loved" is not a trite cliché. It is written in the blood of a God who allowed Himself to be crushed to buy our freedom.

What a great love! What an unthinkable sacrifice! What a gift!

God asks just one thing from us.

He wants our lives.

Because He bought us at such a great price, we rightfully belong to Him. Our surrender must be complete: heart, mind, body, and soul.

This part of the gospel sticks in our collective craws. We like to have our own way without the hassle of accountability. Submission to Christ means giving Him control over everything. There is a personal cost in ridding our lives of the things that dishonor Him in order to wear His name with dignity and live in victory. But how beautiful it is to live in the freedom that comes with serving righteousness instead of our own appetites!

When we make Him Lord of our hearts, we commit our futures to One who is wise and faithful. In the light of His servanthood to His Father during His time on Earth, the sacrifices He asks of us are small. There is joy in giving God our bank account, our home, our time, and our dreams.  

Servanthood to a sovereign like the great I AM is the ultimate freedom.

and He died for all, so that they who live would no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf. 

          - 2 Corinthians 5:15 (NASB)

Our natures rebel at the notion of giving up our rights.

Everyone serves something. We're all slaves to either sin or righteousness. Which we serve determines the course of our lives.  

A slave is bound to serve his master. It doesn't matter how tired he is, or if he has his own needs. As long as his rights lie in the hands of another, he has no say in what happens to him.

Even in this, our God is unique. This sovereign we serve grants us unlimited access to Him. He's available at any hour to hear our petitions or to just talk. He is always listening. Our God is not a cruel taskmaster, though our old nature tells us that when life gets hard. Returning to captivity is never the green pasture it appears, though, and slavery to ourselves is the worst bondage. The Psalmist said it best: 

For a day in Your courtyards is better than a thousand elsewhere.                  I would rather stand at the threshold of the house of my God                  Than live in the tents of wickedness.

- Psalm 84:10 (NASB)

All of us will serve one master or another. Christ offers us freedom from the destruction and guilt of serving ourselves. Serving Him brings joy out of this world.

Where does your allegiance lie? Who do you serve?

But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you have come to obey from your heart the pattern of teaching that has now claimed your allegiance.

- Romans 6:17 (NIV)

Like most families, ours has endured our share of trials and tragedies. Many times we thought we weren't going to make it through the storms of life. I've watched my grown children reach for God in their deepest pain, and I'm convinced we wouldn't have survived had we not clung to the Lord Jesus.

Our lives are perfect, but by His grace we stand today, and by His grace we will serve Him.

There is no better way to live and nothing better you can teach your children.