“You were bought at a price; do not become slaves of men.” I Corinthians 7:23 NKJV
Reflection: are you free or enslaved?
Over the past few months, you have probably noticed that there is an increased focus on the topic of human trafficking and slavery. This very dark side of our “modern” society that no one really wants to talk about, nor even think about. That right in our own communities and neighborhoods, women and children are being used for various forms of modern day slavery. In the US alone, there is an estimated 300,000+ children missing that were brought over the border by some trafficker. And it is only the tip of this iceberg of human tragedy. Government has recognized themselves that in a way they have been facilitating some of this problem by its own policies and lack of border control. And if you dare to dig a bit further, you will uncover a very dark, very ugly and evil part of humanity. The worst. And although (some forms of) slavery has officially been abolished in most countries, it is still a huge problem across the world.
So what is slavery?
In its fundamental form, slavery is holding people as “property” in some form, being “owned” by another person. Slavery is nothing new. It has sadly been going on since early human history, and has plagued us ever since. Even as recent as 2015, the UK passed the “Modern Day Slavery Act”. You might remember that we have many examples of slavery in the Bible. But even secular historians recognize this problem, and that it comes in many forms. In our focus verse today, Paul warns the church in Corinth not to become “slaves of men”. That is a very interesting way of putting it, don’t you think? As if slavery was an option, or voluntary. Would anyone ever become a slave voluntarily? And if so, why?
An early recorded example of slavery is from around sixth century BC referred to as “Debt bondage, also known as debt slavery, bonded labour, or peonage, is the pledge of a person’s services as security for the repayment for a debt or other obligation.” Now, that sounds vaguely familiar to our current day, were we so easily accumulate a massive amount of debt to get things, having to pay back significantly more than what was borrowed to the lender, often over many years. A house loan, for instance, is often 20 to 30 years before it is paid. And even then, the taxes on the property still has to be paid. This cause many to feel entrapped, having to go along with an employer’s demands in order to not to lose the income. To be able to pay the debt owed. We don’t look at this as slavery today, but it is interesting that societies did almost 3000 years ago.
And there is a serious question here relevant for Christians of today, whether we are free and truly follow Christ, or are we enslaved to men? Whether this is in the form of debt, career, material possessions, popularity, social status, friends, or whatever is driving our behavior. We may not call it “slavery”, but we must question who “owns” us, our time, our energy, our bodies and minds? And most of all, who is the owner of our souls?
Jesus came to offer us freedom. It cost Him everything to be able to do that, as Paul put it “you were bought at a price”. And He is the only one that can set us free. Let’s follow only Him, to life.