Galatians 4:8
“However at that time, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those which by nature are no gods.”
Outside of Christ, we were slaves. That may come as a surprise to many. How is that so? To quote a pop culture star, Bob Dylan had a song titled "Gotta Serve Somebody". Part of the song says, "It may be the devil, it may be the Lord, but You're gonna have to serve somebody". Romans 6:20 says that we were slaves to sin.
Jesus said in John 8:34, "Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin." Regardless of how sweet someone is, that one is still a sinner. It's part of the human condition. So, if all of us sin, He tells us that we are slaves to sin.
A few verses earlier in Romans 6, Paul says, "Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness?" (v.16). Someone may be committed to their career, that is their object, one may be into music, some are into their friends, hobbies, causes and so on. Whatever it is that we are into is what we are subject to.
I understand some are very balanced in their lives, yet outside of Christ, they are servants to something. Two of the Ten Commandments deal with serving other gods and how we aren't to do it. Many think this doesn't apply to them, as they aren't religous. It's been established that whatever we are into is that we have allegiance to. That is our god. The bible puts us in two camps, those that serve God and those that serve something else.
How are we slaves? It's in our nature. We have to be into something. Regardless how healthy it may be, we are enslaved to it. Paul said it at the end of verse 16, "whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness".
How do we switch our allegiance to God? When we accept Christ, He is to be our lord and savior. The savior part forgives our sin and gives us a home in heaven. The lord part is that we do what He says. There is much we do not know at that time. However, we tend to learn a little more each day.
We begin to read the bible. It's His rule book as well as a place to get hope. We are to obey the Ten Commandments. We are also to love one another. That gets fleshed out in many details. We are also to go to church. There we hear messages and make friends with other believers.
The Lord has equipped us all with a variety of gifts and talents. We learn to use those to serve Him and others. We may have a compassionate heart. We learn to empathize and care for others. We may like to be helpful, so we volunteer our time and skills to help.
According to Paul, if in Christ, we are His slaves. That's ok. We are happy to be so. One may think that we would be miserable. Quite the opposite. He fills us with joy and contentment. As we submit to Him and walk according to His ways, He rewards us with a full heart. I Peter 1:8 says, "and though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory".
When we come to Christ, He changes our hearts. Ezekiel 36:26 says, "Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh." Psalm 40:8 says, "I delight to do Your will, O my God; Your Law is within my heart." We want to do the things He wants. He wants us to love others, so He puts that desire within us. Because of the variety of personalities and gifts, we do this in different ways.
Lord, thank You for recruiting us to be on Your team. Thank You for putting godly desires in us as well as providing opportunities to be engaged in as well as satisfying us with joy as a reward. Even though we are Your servants, there is no better place to be.