Bondservant

When was the last time you thought about being a bondservant? If you're like me, it's been a while. Nevertheless, I have been bought at a price. Fortunately for me the One who paid the price did not think it was too high a price to pay. And that last line was the understatement of the century. How casual did that sound? I certainly did not mean for it to sound casual. In my entire life this is the one truth that carries the most weight. I am so very loved. Jesus loved me enough to think that the price of His own life was not too high to pay. I owe Him my entire life - my whole heart. And yet, I owe Him nothing. He does not require payment in any way. He just asks me to accept the gift. I am free.

So what does this have to do with being a bondservant? A bondservant is a slave who has been treated lovingly and kindly by his master and, upon being set free, chooses to stay because being loved is more important to him than being free. And in that choice, chooses not only love but also freedom.

I have never felt more free since I began to live my life for Jesus, since I chose to make Him my master. And I have never felt more loved. Let me tell you it has taken me years to get here. It's amazing how much rubbish we pick up along the way living in what we are told by the world is freedom. My mind was so skewed. I actually bought into that whole world thinking about my rights and my ability to live in freedom all the while choosing a master who was, well, way less than loving and kind and who had me bound up in ways you can only imagine. The lies I believed then amaze me today. How could I have believed it all? Lies like - "It's your life (or your body), you can do what you want with it." That one lie alone wreaked havoc on my mind and heart not to mention my body. Or how about this one - "If it feels good, do it." Oh yeah, that one will get ya. I wonder why noone ever told me about the consequences of living like that. Or maybe they did and I was too "free" to hear them. I don't know.

Today my passion lies in revealing the real truth to as many young people as I can. I don't want any of them to have to go back and work through all that mess to get their minds around real freedom and real joy and the fact that in spite of everything, they are so very loved.

My daily meditation from Henri Nouwen today goes like this:

The Healing Touch

Touch, yes, touch, speaks the wordless words of love. We receive so much touch when we are babies and so little when we are adults. Still, in friendship touch often gives more life than words. A friend's hand stroking our back, a friend's arms resting on our shoulder, a friend's fingers wiping our tears away, a friend's lips kissing our forehead --- these are true consolation. These moments of touch are truly sacred. They restore, they reconcile, they reassure, they forgive, they heal.

Everyone who touched Jesus and everyone whom Jesus touched were healed. God's love and power went out from him (see Luke 6:19). When a friend touches us with free, nonpossessive love, it is God's incarnate love that touches us and God's power that heals us.

I think that says it all. Touch someone today.