Slavery that frees

It is clear from the context of the promise “If you continue ... the son shall set you fee” (see the last few posts and John 8), that Jesus was speaking to believers. So it is possible to be a believer and not be free.  It is not automatic. In fact from my observation,   many who enter the Kingdom seek to walk as close to the world as possible, but they are not free.  Actually I cannot conceive of anyone more miserable than a Christian who is not fully committed (well as committed as you can be at this point in time). You see if this is you, you can't any longer really enjoy your sin (you feel convicted), but you do not have the joy of close fellowship with Him. We cannot be close to Him and continue in our sin, and we cannot continue in our sin and expect Him to fulfill His promises (Isaiah 59:2).  We cannot continue continue unchanged and expect to experience the abundant life Jesus promises (John 10:10).  Growth is the main sign of life!

The saying nature abhors vacuum has a spiritual application. When we take something out of our lives, if we don't take deliberate steps to replace the bad things with good things, other things will rush in to replace them (see about the seven devils worse than the first in Matthew 12:45). At best is will be a life of quiet desperation.   At one point in my journey I went from a form of Christian workaholism to obsessive (angry) thoughts. So how can we avoid replacing bad with bad?  The Bible tells us what to do, and it is to give whole hearted radical obedience the Lord.  And He does intend that we be radical. There is a zeal that is not of Him of course,  pushy,  insensitive Evangelism, for example. If you are turned off by that, welcome to the club. The Bible describes these things as zeal without knowledge.

On the other hand Paul describes himself as a bond servant of Jesus Christ. In the culture of the time, a  bond servant was a servant who could be free, but (because he loved his master) chose to remain  servant.  Paul (again) in Romans 6:16 asks “Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness?”   The latter is zeal with knowledge, and it sets you free, free to be all that you were created to be.

But I prefer the way that Heidi Baker puts it. She talks about being “radical lovers of God”. This too is very Biblical. The first commandment is to love God with all our heart and mind and soul and strength - radical lovers of God.  Heidi and her husband live it. I don't have many heros, but these guys certainly make the list. I first encountered Heidi (“on screen”) when she was talking about “loving the dump” (yes my first reaction was the same as yours). She and her husband went to war torn Mozambique to rescue children orphaned by the civil war. They would go to the dump and pick up children who had been physically and sexually abused and left there to die. They would take them home  and love them back to life (Google “Iris ministries”).  Heidi and Roland live the principle of being bond servants of Jesus Christ. At the same time, I know of no one who exhibits more of the joy of the Lord than these two (Psalm 34:5). Next to Jesus I would like to be more like them.  Unfortunately in the West,  such examples are few and far between. People like Heidi and Roland do however show that it is possible, and their very lives challenge.  As I say after Jesus,  I would next choose to follow their example.  This form of slavery brings “exceeding joy”.  I am not quite there yet, but that is the direction I am in process of pursuing.