Today I changed my gmail chat tag to, " Grace Yong is a slave?". I don't know why I did that, even though I felt totally uneasy in making use of the term 'slave'. As I thought more and more though, just like the Bible says, aren't we all actually slaves to something/someone?
Slaving is quite an extreme word for our society. It has a connotation of me being sold to someone or something and never having the freedom to choose, but always needing to fall back to what enslaves me. Basically, I have no way out if I am a slave to something or someone. I remember Britney Spears' song and I remember how I didn't welcome that song because it is such a strong word, and to even say I am someone's slave is intellectually challenging.
The more I think about it, the more I am convinced that if there is someone or something I can choose to be a slave to, I would pick God to be my Master. This is in view that we all are inevitably enslaved to something. God the slave master? That sounds cruel. Err....yes and no. Yes only because the words 'slave' and 'master' are both very strong words that we hardly use in our literatures today. Hence, the uneasiness that we feel when we say those words. No because if you know God's character, then you'll know that He is a kind, compassionate, just, faithful and loving slave master. Ironic as it sounds, it is true. Try Him? =)
I need to get accustomed to calling myself a slave of God. I wonder what kind of impact it would make to remind myself daily that I am God's slave, and refrain from using the very tame and glorious word called 'servant'? I bet this would slap me on my face to remind me that I am human - and it's probably more effective than using any other method to keep me humble? Servant hood has this glorifying effect to myself connected to it. It makes me proud because I am a servant of God. I guess maybe it is because the church has overemphasised and overused the 'servant' word?
Let this be a fresh encounter between me and my God. Chilling.
slave to One Master,
gracey
Slaving is quite an extreme word for our society. It has a connotation of me being sold to someone or something and never having the freedom to choose, but always needing to fall back to what enslaves me. Basically, I have no way out if I am a slave to something or someone. I remember Britney Spears' song and I remember how I didn't welcome that song because it is such a strong word, and to even say I am someone's slave is intellectually challenging.
The more I think about it, the more I am convinced that if there is someone or something I can choose to be a slave to, I would pick God to be my Master. This is in view that we all are inevitably enslaved to something. God the slave master? That sounds cruel. Err....yes and no. Yes only because the words 'slave' and 'master' are both very strong words that we hardly use in our literatures today. Hence, the uneasiness that we feel when we say those words. No because if you know God's character, then you'll know that He is a kind, compassionate, just, faithful and loving slave master. Ironic as it sounds, it is true. Try Him? =)
I need to get accustomed to calling myself a slave of God. I wonder what kind of impact it would make to remind myself daily that I am God's slave, and refrain from using the very tame and glorious word called 'servant'? I bet this would slap me on my face to remind me that I am human - and it's probably more effective than using any other method to keep me humble? Servant hood has this glorifying effect to myself connected to it. It makes me proud because I am a servant of God. I guess maybe it is because the church has overemphasised and overused the 'servant' word?
Let this be a fresh encounter between me and my God. Chilling.
slave to One Master,
gracey
1 comment:
How about "Huperetes" and "Oikonomos" - both slave and steward... Thats what Paul uses.
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