Slave of Christ Jesus

In the first verse of the most important book of the Bible, the apostle Paul makes an impressive statement about himself, “Paul, a slave of Christ Jesus” (Romans 1:1). In this one little statement is found volumes. This is what the Christian life is all about, being a slave to One who is worthy of all devotion, obedience, and service.

 One of the things that I have learned over the years is that everyone is a slave to something. The question is not who is a slave; the question is to what are you a slave to?

We can be slaves to the praises of men.

We can be slaves to money.

We can be slaves to pornography.

We can be slaves to power.

We can be slaves to success.

We can be slaves to our own reputation.

We can be slaves to sports.

All of these things promise to bring joy, but ultimately they do not bring true pleasure. The only true pleasures are the pleasures of God. There is hope though, and it is found in the gospel of Jesus. The beauty of the gospel is that it rescues us from finding our joy in this vain world; Jesus paid the price with His own blood, to rescue us from the slavery of sin. “But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life” (Romans 6:22).