When Slaves of Righteousness Leave

Hey friends! I have compiled a list of 101 books to read, so that I might not be so uneducated compared to Jane Fairfax.

(Kudos if you got the quote.)

I just finished #6 on my list, which was Eight Keys to Lasting Success, and it was actually written by my father, (Jay Thomson) who is very wise, and the book is very good.

I think my favorite chapter was the second last, in which he talks about slavery in the old testament, among other things, and it sparked a cool thought, so I decided to write about it.

In the old testament law, slavery was not what you and I think of in regards to the slave trade, or anything akin to it. Slavery had very specific guidelines set up by God, really for the betterment of everyone involved. It was a way of paying a debt, but in the process of this payment through servitude, the slave was to be mentored by his master, and equipped to be better able to provide for himself in the future.

The reason he would need to learn this at all was because as a part of the system, God had declared every 7th year to be a rest year, in which (among other things) every slave was to be set free.

And when you send him away free from you, you shall not let him go away empty-handed; you shall supply him liberally from your flock, from your threshing floor, and from your winepress. From what the Lord your God has blessed you with, you shall give to him. You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God redeemed you; therefore I command you this thing today. (Deuteronomy 15:13-15)

Okay, so the first thing that is cool about this setup is that it is a picture of a picture. The exodus from Egypt, we as Christians can clearly see was both a physical deliverance and a prophetic picture of what God intended to do through Jesus Christ.

The blood over the doors of the Hebrews from an undefiled lamb delivered their children from death, God brought them out of the captivity of Egypt into the Promised Land, just like He brings us out of the captivity of sin into the Promised Life, through the blood of His undefiled Son.

So the exodus itself was a picture of the gospel, and then God when He sets up the society of His people as an individual nation, says to mirror that picture, because God treated them well when they were slaves in Egypt, so they must treat their slaves well.

Beyond that, there is more to this slave/owner relationship. If the slave had gone into servitude married, in the 7th year he would come out just as he had been before. However, if he was given a wife by his master, his wife and any children would remain slaves when he was set free.

Now before you go thinking that this is so unfair, realize that the slave would have perfect understanding of this before going into it. He didn't have to get married, it was a choice he would've made while being fully aware of the consequences.

However, sometimes people did make that choice, and when it came time to be set free, he wouldn't want to leave his wife and children, so he would tell his master he wanted to stay. God's provision for this was that when he told his master he wanted to stay, he would become a permanant slave of the household.

If you buy a Hebrew servant, he shall serve six years; and in the seventh he shall go out free and pay nothing. If he comes in by himself, he shall go out by himself; if he comes in married, then his wife shall go out with him. If his master has given him a wife, and she has borne him sons or daughters, the wife and her children shall be her master’s, and he shall go out by himself. But if the servant plainly says, ‘I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free,’ then his master shall bring him to the judges. He shall also bring him to the door, or to the doorpost, and his master shall pierce his ear with an awl; and he shall serve him forever. (Exodus 21:2-6)

Here is what struck me about this. If the picture of the slave/owner relationship is supposed to be another picture of the gospel, (shown even further in the New Testament, as Jesus said that he who wishes to be first among you must become a slave of all, and then taught His disciples how to be HIS servants, by serving them.) what significance does the issue of leaving have?

Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness? But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered. And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. (Romans 6:16-18)

It's cool because God makes the mirror work in two ways that are opposite eachother. On the one hand, the setting free of the slave on the Sabbath year is a picture of salvation. God brought the people out of the land of Egypt into "His rest," and He brings us out of bondage into "rest."

On the other hand, when we are set free from the bondage of sin, we naturally become slaves of righteousness. This is the slave relationship that I want to examine for a minute. God, in His picture, set up specific rules for the slave leaving. What is mirrored here about the way interacts with us?

If we choose to leave our Master's household, He will not hold us back. In fact, the principles we learned as Christians will benefit us in our life, in a way, He has "not let (us) depart empty-handed."

This success we will achieve as a result is of course, not lasting. At the very best it will carry up through to the end of our lives, and then every benefit we received in our lives on earth will be worth nothing in the face of eternal judgment.

But our Master does not just send us away willingly. He wants us to stay, so He provides incentive for us. If we choose to leave His house, we must leave our "wife and children" behind.

This is going to sound super weird for a minute, but hopefully you can get what I mean. Also, bear in mind that all of this was birthed out of my love for allegory in every possible scenario, so none of this is strictly biblical. God didn't speak to me from heaven to tell me that these were the reasons for these rules, but these are the pictures I see.

I'll start with the children. The bible sometimes refers to children as "fruit."

Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth. (Genesis 1:28)

In another way, the bible compares the results of your actions to both fruit and children.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness... (Galatians 5:22)

But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death. (James 1:14-15)

If we think of the word children in this way, that is what we leave behind when we leave our Master. Actually in both senses, if we are leaving the master of sin, James 1 describes the children we leave behind, if we leave God as our master, Galatians 5 describes the children we leave behind.

Now for the wife. When God instituted marriage, He said a man would leave his father and mother, cleave to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.

God calls those who respond to the gospel, those who become His slaves, as His bride. As the Bride of Christ, we get to own that which He owns, we get to have a deep and personal relationship with Him, and we get treated with the respect and love that is due the Bride of Christ. (Not that we deserve it, but that by "marrying" us, He has elevated us to that place of honor.)

Okay. So if the servant of God becomes one flesh with the bride, then they are the same person. The slave is both slave and bride. If that slave chooses to leave, he must leave the bride behind.

If you choose to leave salvation behind, you are not just walking away from a master that you have to submit to, you are walking away from the opportunity to grow in character, (the fruit, or children) and you are walking away from an identity of honor.

Anyway, I thought that was cool. Let me know what you thought of my observations, or share any additional ones you had!

An Analogy on a Sunday Morning

Thank the Lord for analogies! I think so much in allegory, that if God didn't speak in analogies I don't think I would be able to understand most of what He says. That said, I want to share with you an analogy I thought about this morning.

I love ballet, but ballet is hard work. Being able to dance for me, means at least two hours, (if I don't have more time to devote than that) every day, six days a week, strengthening and stretching muscles, and even training myself to breathe differently.

Sometimes I don't like it very much. Recently I told my teacher about this subconscious trick I had taught myself, where every time I finished an excercise, I told myself, "Oh sweet, I get a little break!" When I got a water break, when it was time to stretch, when I had a moment to listen to correction, all of these came as exciting things because they were all "little breaks."

My teacher, a little amused and very confused asked, "If you get through the entire class by telling yourself that you are having a break...why do you even put yourself through it?"

It did seem a little odd, when I thought about it that way. The truth though, was that I love ballet. Sometimes I go through periods of time when I don't like it very much, but I know that these times pass. When I don't feel like exerting myself, it is discipline, as a result of passion, that keeps me working at it, and when I come to remember why I loved it, I am better able to do it because I kept going in spite of myself.

To jump topics just for a minute, the weather here in southern Ontario has been pretty awful since yesterday, and this morning our church service was actually cancelled.

I slept in, had a nice relaxed morning, but then I was thinking about what to do with my day, and the idea that I could just spend it with Jesus wouldn't leave my mind.

The problem was... Spending the day with Jesus is awesome, but it does take work. It takes discipline. Because it means reading the bible and actively thinking about what you've read. It means praying, even if you don't feel like He is listening, or if you can't keep your attention focused. It means when you feel like you should move onto something else because you've been "spending time with Jesus," for a while already, not moving on. It means staying. "Abiding in the Vine," if you will, even when you feel like you're being pulled off of it.

I just didn't know if I was ready for that kind of work.

I'm just going to take a moment to say, I am so glad I don't have a reputation to uphold! Sometimes I don't want to be honest about the things that I think because I look like a bad Christian, but isn't it a relief that we are all bad Christians? That the status "Christian," actually is NOT dependant on us, but 100% dependant on God? I don't have to be fake with Jesus, because for my failures He was willing to die, which means I don't have to be fake with you, my brothers and sisters in Christ.

Anyway, so as I struggled with that this morning, my sister came downstairs with her laptop, ready to watch the livestream of our church service, which the pastor and his family did from their living room.

Thank the Lord also for sisters! Here's the thing. (I know I'm all over the place today, forgive me) God did such a good job in creating community. He really knew what He meant when He said it was not good for Adam to be alone, it is not good for any of us to be alone, as we find out very quickly when we are.

Left to my own devices this morning, I probably would be watching Youtube videos and/or sleeping right now, but I was not. Just the sheer accountability of having my sister there, willing to enter into the spirit of worship and submission to God's authority with me, made me enter in as well.

I wrestled a little bit more with thoughts of what to spend time on after the video, and found myself saying, "I don't feel like working at it, I don't feel like a good disciple, I don't feel..."

And suddenly I remembered that when I don't feel like dancing, I go to the barre and I push through. When I am having an off day and I feel like I've lost progress, I push through. Sometimes I give myself some grace, I recognize that it's an off day, but I also recognize that effort must be put in if off days are going to produce better days.

It's the same principle in my spiritual life. It's an off day. That doesn't mean I don't have to work. The work may not seem to produce anything today, but it certainly won't produce anything tomorrow if I don't do it.

If you're in a similar boat today then I hope you join me as I plan to read, I plan to pray, and I plan to accept without reservation the grace that God gives me for the struggle.

Fix Your Eyes Upon Jesus

I love prayer meetings. At least in theory.

I love the idea of the "core of the church" getting together on a regular basis to pray. I have been to lots of prayer meetings, I've stayed silent in most of them, and slept through a couple.

In every prayer gathering I've been to I have always felt a sense of, "If you're new, no worries! You don't have to pray out loud." I have wholeheartedly accepted this and avoided praying out loud like the plague, my only fear was that at some point, I would not be new anymore, and then I would have no excuse.

(Let me just clarify that I know praying, whether aloud or silently, is just talking to God. I have a strange aversion to small groups though, even more so than large ones. I am not nervous to speak publicly, or pray publicly, in front of 200 people. I am VERY afraid to speak publicly, or pray publicly, in front of 5.)

There were always a few comfortable weeks, until my conscience (or maybe just self-consciousness) would start nagging, and I couldn't feel right until I attempted some sort of audible prayer, however uncomfortable about it I felt.

I acknowledged that it was good for me, so I continued to love prayer meetings. (In theory.) In reality I was scared stiff every time I went, and felt anxious about praying until I had prayed, which was usually near the end of the night. So I wasted most of the time worrying, and then I would waste the rest of the time feeling bad about how short, or how stupid, or how vague, or how seemingly pretentious my prayer had been.

This is where my little story begins. For the past while I have been going to a new prayer meeting, which I love, but it has been slowly creeping into my consciousness that at some point I would have to drag myself up to the microphone and pray. At least with a microphone that scared me half to death, my prayer (or plea) was sure to be sincere.

Last night, we were reading in 2 Corinthians 4, and something stood out to me.

...But have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully, but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God. But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. (2 Corinthians 4:2-4)

The part of this that stuck out to me was verse 3, "But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost."

I had just been reading Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis, and he had just been addressing humility, and how truly humble people do not look down on themselves, they don't look at themselves at all, they look at God.

As I read it, the thought came to me that those who look on God reflect what this passage calls "the glorious gospel of Christ," to those around them. In fact it is such an automatic reaction that if people don't see the image of God and the gospel in them, it is only because the devil has specifically blinded them to it.

Now obviously God can remove blinders, and we can pray for removal of those blinders, but when people are not seeing the gospel in us, is it the blinders that are hindering people from seeing the reflection, or is it that we are not looking on God?

I loved this insight, and a passing thought came through my mind, "This is actually something I could share if I wanted to."

But my "passing thought," didn't pass. Suddenly the terrifying thought that God might actually be telling me to share it came to my mind. Oh no.

My sister Rachel got up and went to the microphone, she shared something which actually tied in really well to what I had on my heart. I remembered that a few months ago God was showing me that unity of the body was so important because the way He speaks to the body is by speaking in patterns to individuals. If those individuals never shared what He was saying, the body would never understand the full picture. If I didn't share what I had, they wouldn't hear it from someone else.

I tried every escape route I could think of. I tried getting into the worship, the song said "Show me how to love like You have loved me."

Jesus' ministry, aside from dying for us, was about coming and revealing the Father, showing the real image of God. If this wasn't an act of love, what is? Show me how to love like that, we sang.

It was as if Jesus said to me, "Like that? Like I did when I looked only at my Father, and His image was shown to the world? Like I just told you about, where you look only at Me and the truth automatically is shown to those around? Like you could be doing right now with what I just showed you?"

I tried the reasoning that I was too weak. My subconscious told me that if God was calling me even though I was too weak, He would remind me of a bible character who did it despite being unqualified, but nope. He took me again to the revelation He had just given me, that those who look ONLY at God, the gospel will show through. In declaring myself too weak, I was not only not looking at God, but I was "walking in craftiness," and "handling the word of God deceitfully."

I tried running out of time. "God," I prayed, if you are calling me, please provide me with a clear opening to speak." Just then, the leader of the meeting God up to speak. I breathed a sigh of relief, and felt a slight pang of guilt, the meeting was ending.

Psych! He prayed and sat back down. The music continued. There was an opening.

"Okay," I thought, "Clearly I have to do this. But I don't even know what I'm talking about!" Everything had stressed me out so much that I couldn't even figure out how I had arrived at my conclusions. I had 1 Corinthians 4:2-4, but that didn't really speak to the "looking at God" thing. I couldn't remember any scriptures to support it in my muddle-headedness, I had only Mere Christianity to lean on, and I've always opposed theology backed only by extra-biblical books.

I looked up, and 2 Corinthians 3:18 sat before me.

But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.

I had more than enough evidence that God was calling me to the front of the room, but I still couldn't bring myself to go. I looked again at my bible and kept reading in 2 Corinthians 4.

We having the same spirit of faith, according as it is written, I believed, and therefore have I spoken; we also believe, and therefore speak; Knowing that He which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus, and shall present us with you. For all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God. For which cause we faint not: but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal. (2 Corinthians 4:13-18)

I will make the note that I have emboldened the parts which speak most strongly to what I was thinking, but all of it fit. Everything in those verses spoke to my struggle, every single word told me to get up off of my chair and proclaim what the Lord had told me.

So I did, like a skittish, shaking little...something, I slipped up to the front, fumbled with the microphone, almost cried, my mouth dried up, and I daresay I didn't communicate well at all, but I obeyed.

For about 1/4 of a second a voice in my head told me that it wouldn't have been worth it if people didn't understand or weren't affected by what I had said, but the louder voice quickly snuffed it out saying, "I was affected. I understood, and I obeyed. If no one else grew spiritually, I did. If no one else learned to look more fully on the face of God, I DID."

I have a few reasons for writing this for you to read. First, I hope that others, when they read about how stupidly I reacted to the situation, can take comfort that God will use who He will, no matter how ridiculous they are.

Secondly, I wanted to share my original insight with you, because I think it is awesome and will benefit all Christians to think about. Again, if I, as a part of the body, do not share it, the rest of the body doesn't get to know.

Thirdly, I did do a poor job of communicating last night, so while I don't doubt God's ability to speak whatever the others needed to hear through me, I know I will not feel full closure until I have put it out the way I understood it.

And lastly, because I love it when God speaks to me, (however much I didn't love it at that moment) and when, in the future, I have moments of doubt, I want a record for myself that I can look back on and know that God is faithful and true.

For we commend not ourselves again unto you, but give you occasion to glory on our behalf, that ye may have somewhat to answer them which glory in appearance, and not in heart. For whether we be beside ourselves, it is to God; or whether we be sober, it is for your cause. (2 Corinthians 5:12-13)