For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.
Mark 10:45 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark+10%3A45&version=NIV;MSG
Dr. King once quoted from an old spiritual, “Free at last, Free at last, Great God almighty, we are free at last.” What are we free from? Who freed us? Why do we need to be free?
We have been freed from the bondage of the world and from the burdens the enemy has placed on us. By the grace of God, we have gone through the process of justification. The dictionary defines justification as the action of declaring or making righteous in the sight of God.1 There are many churchy words out there like propitiation, redemption, sanctification, and more. What do they have to do with the relationship we have with Jesus Christ? Nothing and everything all at the same time! Confused?
We don’t need to memorize Webster’s definitions to impress the churched or the unchurched, all we have to do is demonstrate what they denote and live out a life of Jesus. But why? If you have studied any United States History, you would know that there are some dark times within its story. The US economy from early colonization to around 1860s thrived around the enslavement of millions of former Africans or their descendants, that were traded, bought, and/or stolen, only to brutally forced to work without compensation.
To say life was hard for a slave wouldn’t clearly paint a big enough picture. Malnourishment, grueling labor, frequent whippings, poor living conditions, separation from family, conscription, forced childbearing, rape, murder, and so forth were the awful, everyday experience of a slave. They didn’t put themselves into this position, but for some, they found their way out of it.
A convoluted system called “self-purchase” emerged. Slaves like Venture Smith of Connecticut were able to save up and buy their freedom. Imagine that you could pay for freedom in a concept to which you then owned yourself? According to this setup, you become your own master!
So when asked “but why?” I am hoping it is obvious that one would not want to experience the same calamities and excruciations as that of an American slave. Thankfully, we don’t have to make self-purchases. Our Lord and Savior did it instead. Even better, we don’t become our own master, God does a far better job! In our featured verse, the word “ransom” used by John Mark, means, a price paid to free a slave. There is no doubt in my mind that Jesus paid that price for me. Now I can take on the next steps and reap the rewards of it.
In Romans 6:22-23 it says:
But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 6:22-23 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans+6%3A22-23&version=NIV;MSG
The title of this devotional is “No Longer Slaves” and that is true to an extent. We are no longer bound to the sin of this world. However, for clarification, if I was to amend the title a bit, I think it would be better suited as:
“No Longer Slaves (to the Enemy and His World But Instead We Are Servants of God and to His Word)”.
Old world slaves saw no reward, but the benefits of being a newly ordained slave for God goes beyond what one can fully fathom. A faith-filled servitude towards God and His people leads to a life forever with Him.
We are justified because of sanctification; we are redeemed, because of propitiation. Churchy words of our Christian world exist only because of what Jesus did. We are free from the tyranny of sin, the persecution of the liar and deceiver who had enslaved us to sin. We have but one master and it is not ourselves or the enemy.
Praise God Almighty, we are now “free at last, free at last” forever, never to be enslaved again.2
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The subsequent series of posts, 66 in all, can be used as a devotional. Each book of the Bible is unpacked by me each morning by examining: • context (historical and biblical) • connotations and denotations • connections (verses around it and cross-references) • character (God’s and mine) • commission (how can I go out and do it) I do hope you enjoy and…
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Woman at the Well
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Jesus is the snake this time.
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Jesus is the rooster
66 Verses: Devotional 
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