Slavery on the other hand is a system under which people are treated as property and are forced to work. Slaves can be held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase or birth, and deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to demand compensation. Slavery predates written records, has existed in many cultures and in some historical situations it has been legal for owners to kill slaves.2 Slavery is the stark opposite of liberty. Whether we realize it or not, or want to realize it or not, slavery today is higher than at any point in human history (a friend of mine who works for the Department of Homeland Security says that the US has the highest rate of human trafficking in the world today).
Our understanding of slavery and liberty may differ. But one thing is for sure: God’s idea of slavery and liberty is exact, sure, true and proven. It is the slavery that every man faces from the time he is conceived to the time that he dies if he never trusts Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. It is slavery to sin. The Apostle Paul wrote it this way in Romans 6:15-18: What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Absolutely not! Do you not know that if you present yourselves as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey either of sin resulting in death, or obedience resulting in righteousness? But thanks be to God that though you were slaves to sin, you obeyed from the heart that pattern of teaching you were entrusted to, and having been freed from sin, you became enslaved to righteousness. Sin is ever present in our liberated society. And because this is the case, there really is no liberty at all except to a certain class of people.
Now that sounds pretty precocious on my part to say except to a certain class of people. Be careful not to misunderstand what I mean by what I say. The class of people of whom I am speaking is every single person in the world: sinners! But there are some of us who have come to the knowledge of our sinfulness, have trusted the Person and Work of Jesus Christ unto salvation, and who are attempting to live our lives as obedient to Him. However, there are those who struggle with the liberty they have in Christ. For some reason we just continually give ourselves to the enslavement of sin. The Word of God, however, keeps telling us that we are freed from sin and that we have liberty in Jesus Christ.
Read what Jesus Christ says about liberty John 8:31-35: Then Jesus said to those Judeans who had believed Him, “If you continue to follow My teaching, you are really my disciples and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” “We are descendants of Abraham,” they replied, “and have never been anyone’s slaves! How can you say, ‘You will become free’?” Jesus answered them, “I tell you the solemn truth, everyone who practices sin is a slave of sin. the slave does not remain in the family forever, but the son remains forever.” Find true liberty and be freed from slavery in Jesus Christ!
