“Slave” is not a word most of us nowadays feel comfortable with. It is significant that most modern Bible translations use “servant” instead. For a slave is not his own, has no rights whatsoever, is not in charge of what happens to him, makes no choices about what he will do or how he is to serve, is not recognized, appreciated, thanked or even (except by his absence) noticed at all.
Once we give up our slavery to the world, which is a cruel master indeed, to become Christ’s bond slave, we live out our servitude to Him by glad service to others. This volunteer slavery cannot be taken advantage of—we have chosen to surrender everything for love. It is a wholly different thing from forced labor. It is in fact the purest joy when it is most unobserved, most un-self-conscious, most simple, most freely offered.
Lord, break the chains that hold me to myself; free me to be Your happy slave- that is, to be the happy foot washer of anyone today who needs his feet washed, his supper cooked, his faults overlooked, his work commended, his failure forgiven, his griefsconsoled or his button sewed on. Let me not imagine that my love for You is very great if I am unwilling to do for a human being something very small.
**Excerpt originally published in A Lamp Unto My Feet, p. 52.