Journey to Ephesus

Day 24

'Slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect and fear, and with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ. Obey them not only to win their favour when their eye is on you, but as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from your heart. Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not people, because you know that the Lord will reward each one for whatever good they do, whether they are slave or free. And masters, treat your slaves in the same way. Do not threaten them, since you know that he who is both their Master and yours is in heaven, and there is no favouritism with him.'

Ephesians 6:5-9

Thankfully, we live in a world where slavery is not common, like it used to be. But there is still slavery going on today, with things like child trafficking and forced labour, which really is an awful thought and people don't often seem to do much about it. But I'm not here to rant about how bad slavery is in the world today, I'm here to tell you what this verse is about. So, even though some bits don't apply to us today, there is still a really big message in here.

God will reward people for whatever good they do, whether they are slave or free. Isn't a wonderful line? Some people think that Christianity is racist, or sexist, or any other -ist you can think of. But that's simply not true! God will reward you, no matter who you are, what you have done before in your life and where you live. And I think that at the time this was written, it was pretty revolutionary. If you lived in a world where everyone had slaves, it would be quite shocking realising that your slave had the same father in heaven as you.

And personally, I just love it where the passage says, 'There is no favouritism with him'. God doesn't prefer people. He doesn't rank us in order of importance. When you go to heaven, he doesn't say, 'oh, well you should get the nice house over there, because you were a better Christian than the guy who lives in the run-down shack'. God doesn't do that! (Also, I don't think that there are any run-down shacks in heaven. In fact, I'm not even sure if there are houses.) God treats everyone equally. And that's what we should do! Don't judge people because they are gay, or black, or they have a different religion. Share God's love with the world, not with just the people who you think 'deserve' his love. And if we all do that, then the world could see us as who we really are, not as anti-everyone who isn't Christian, but as people who have been given an ocean of unfailing love.

Prayer

Dear Lord,

Thank you that we are not bound by slavery, or by fear. Thank you for rewarding everyone for what good they do, no matter who they are. Thank you that you do not have favourites. Thank you that you do not rank people according to how important they are. Please help me to share your love with everyone. Help me to be a person that does not judge people, but that is full of the wonderful gifts that you have given, and that accepts people for who they are. Please help those people who are forced to work in other less-fortunate areas of the world.

Amen