Walk, Don't Run!
by Pastor Ricky Kurth
“…as the Lord hath called every one, so let him walk… Art thou called being a servant? Care not for it…” (I Corinthians 7:17,21).
Some Christians find it troubling that the Bible counsels slaves to be
content in their difficult circumstances, and walk in
obedience to their masters rather than run away from them in
rebellion (Eph. 6:5; Col. 3:22). But there were legitimate reasons why
men were slaves in those days, and God has never been in favor of freeing
“a lawful captive” from his owner (Isa. 49:24).
The Apostle Paul did tell slaves, “if thou mayest be made free,
use it rather” (I Cor. 7:21). For example, if a man was a slave
because he was working off his financial debts, if someone offered to pay
his debts, this was benevolence that no servant should ignore. But if there
was no legitimate means by which a servant could be made free, it was
God’s will that he walk in the calling wherewith he had been called (I
Cor. 7:17).
Of course, unbelievers think that this is terrible advice, and
they aren’t shy about criticizing the Bible for not encouraging slaves to
run away from their masters. But that’s because they’re thinking of the
kind of slavery that existed in the early days of our country, when
innocent people were kidnapped from Africa and brought here as
slaves to serve in an illegitimate form of bondage. This type of slavery is
condemned in Scripture, and those who dared perpetrate it in Israel
were given the death penalty (Ex. 21:16). Yet even when men were kidnapped
and wrongfully enslaved, Paul’s advice to be content in servitude was
good counsel, for often it was just not possible for slaves to escape
bondage, and God does not wish His children to live lives of abject
frustration and misery.
But if you are thinking that it is equally impossible to “care not”
for being a slave, consider the counsel that Paul went on to give servants
in the very next verse,
“For he that is called in the Lord, being a servant, is the Lord’s freeman…” (I Cor. 7:22).
The key to finding contentment as a slave was to remember that
believing slaves were free men in the eyes of the Lord. In other
words, the secret to being content in the harsh circumstances of bondage
was for servants to look past their circumstances and focus on how
God saw them in Christ. That is, when slaves couldn’t change their
circumstances, the key to contentment was to change how they thought
about their circumstances.
Now, is there anything you can learn from that about your
difficult circumstances? Sometimes our situation in life can’t be
changed any more than a slave could change his. Of course, if there
is a legitimate means by which you might be made free from your
difficulties, by all means do what Paul told slaves to do with such an
opportunity and “use it.” But if you can’t change your circumstances,
why not follow Paul’s advice and change the way you think about them?
If life has you feeling like a captive for whom there is no escape,
never lose sight of the spiritual reality that you are “the Lord’s
freeman.” Focusing on the problems that have you feeling imprisoned will
only make you as miserable as the slave who focused on his. Focusing on
“the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free” (Gal. 5:1) is the only
path to rejoicing.
It’s the secret of life.
There is only way to be SAVED 1. Corinthian 15;1 - 4 Christ died for our sins was buried and rose again the third day. Believe this from you heart and you will have eternal life.
SO GREAT SALVATION!{Click}
There is only way to be SAVED 1. Corinthian 15;1 - 4 Christ died for our sins was buried and rose again the third day. Believe this from you heart and you will have eternal life.
SO GREAT SALVATION!{Click}
Les Feldick Ministries
30706 W. Lona Valley Rd.
Kinta, OK 74552
Posted By Cecil and Connie Spivey
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