Formerly, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those who by nature are not gods. Galatians 4:8
In 1979 Bob Dylan said it with his song title, “Gotta Serve Somebody.” In Galatians Paul’s observation is that before we knew God we served those who were by nature not gods.
We are all tempted by the world, the flesh and the devil to serve something other than God. Keeping the Lord on the throne of our life as our highest priority requires a conscious effort. The lure of all that pleases the eye and all that glitters in the world is strong but we overcome it through the faith of Christ in us.
Paul calls it slavery–a strong term but fitting. I think Dylan is driving at the same notion–that we are created to praise, honor and serve God but we can veer off course by misplacing that God-given desire to serve by aiming our praise, honor and service toward another end. All that the world offers, all the pleasure of the flesh and every purpose of our enemy encourage us to serve ourselves and not our creator.
When we think about those who live as though God didn’t exist, we can become critical and judgmental. ”Why don’t these people get it?” The spirit of pride seeks to divide us from those our Father has sent us to love and to save. It’s certainly true that we may face the scorn and rejection of those in the grip of their slavery. Life-long chains of slavery and fear don’t simply fall off but they can be broken through our love.
We’ve been freed in Christ and we can free others in Christ and as Christ. Someone told us that there was another way to live–praising, honoring and serving our King–and we can offer the same gift to those around us. Lord, be our strength!
