Are you a member of the cult of the pierced ear? I am referring, of course, to the Old Testament practice of piercing the ear of a slave with an awl (that must have hurt...). According to Exodus 21: 5 and following, if a slave who had earned his freedom so loved his master that he did not want to leave him but instead serve him all the days of his life. the Master would take the slave to a door or doorpost, and "bore his ear through with an awl". This signified that the slave will forfeit his freedom and serve his master all the days of his life.
Did you know that this rite is the foundation for the New Testament concept of being a "bondservant". The Apostle Paul called himself the bondservant of Christ, by this saying that he had relinquished all rights to freedom - to being on his own - in order to serve His Lord all the days of his life. Paul so loved the Lord Jesus Christ that he could not conceive of living one day apart from the Lord. In a spiritual sense he was a member of the cult of the pierced ear.
What about you? Has God brought you to the point in life that you want to relinquish all freedom and give your every breath to the service of Christ? Have you come to Christ in repentance and faith, offering Him your ear to be "born through" with Christ's awl? If you have then you are a bondservant of Christ. You have joined the cult of the pierced ear.
If you are part of the cult, what might it mean for your life? Sticking closely to the readings for today might I suggest a couple of things?
From Luke 24 Jesus lays out what life is to be for His bondservants. He said in verses 46 and following: Thus, it is written that Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in His name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. And behold I am sending the promise of my Father upon you." First and foremost for the bondservant of Christ is, by the power of the Holy Spirit, to be a witness of Christ to all the nations. Life is to be about proclaiming the gospel every day in every place.
Related to this is Paul's counsel in 2 Corinthians 9. Life is to be about sowing seeds in order to reap a harvest of righteousness. It is to be about taking all the resources God has given to us (time, talent and treasure) and leveraging them for the Kingdom of God. It is about pouring out on others what Christ has poured into us every day in every place.
That's the life of a bondservant, but it couldn't be more freeing of spirit, mind and soul, for when we bind ourselves to Christ it frees us from bondage to sin and sets us free to more fully love others.
Today when you look in the mirror...check your ear lobe to see if you are a member of the cult of the pierced ear.
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