• Home
• About FCM
  • About FCM
  • FCM Board
  • Mission Statement
  • Statement of Faith
  • Our Focus
  • Ministry Needs
  • Links
  • Ministry Needs
  • Submit Material
  • Link To Us
• Sermons & Stuff
  • Sermons Page
  • Poems Page
  • Stories Page
  • Encouraging Thoughts
  • Site Author Page
• Bible Studies
  • Bible Studies Page
  • Daily Devotionals
  • Bible Commentaries
  • Small Groups & Individuals
  • How to...
  • Daily Studies
  • Bible Outlines
  • Bible Book Quizzes
• Forum
• Accept Jesus
• Key Sections
  • Family page
  • Daily Devotionals
  • Key Topics
  • Submit material
• View Articles
• Daily Readings
• Team Page

Visit our new blog. It lists all the new things that we are doing and what new material has been added to our site. We even list new missionaries who sign up with us for technical support so you can pray for them. FCM News

Servant or Slave?

by Eric Decker

Know ye not, that to whom ye present yourselves as servants unto obedience, his servants ye are whom ye obey? (Romans 6:16) The word here rendered "servant" really signifies a bondservant, a s=. lave. This word is used several times in the second half of Romans 6. What is the difference between a servant and a slave? A servant may serve an other, but the ownership does not pass to that other. If he likes his master, he can serve him, but if he does not like him he can give in his notice and seek another master. Not so with the slave. He is not only the servant of another but he is the possession of another. How did I become the slave of the Lord? On his part, he bought me, and on my part, I presented myself to him. By right of redemption, I am God's property, but if I would be his slave, I must willingly give myself to him, for he will never compel me to do so.

The trouble with many Christians today is that they have an insufficient idea of what God is asking of them. How glibly they say: "Lord I am willing for anything." Do you know that God is asking of you your very life? There are cherished ideals, strong wills, precious relationships, much loved work, that will have to go; so do not give yourself to God unless you mean it. God will take you seriously, even if you did not mean it seriously.

When the Galilean boy brought his bread to the Lord, what did the Lord do with it? He broke it. God will always break what is offered to him. He breaks what he takes, but after breaking it he blessed and used it to meet the needs of others. After you give yourself to the Lord, he begins to break what was offered to him. Everything seems to go wrong, and you protest and find fault with the ways of God. But to stay there is to be no more than just a broken vessel, no good for the world because you have gone too far for the world to use you and no good for God either because you have not gone far enough for him to use you. You are out of gear with the world, and you have a controversy with God. This is the tragedy of many a Christian.

My giving of myself to the Lord must be an initial fundamental act. Then, day by day, I must go on giving to him, not finding fault with his use of me, but accepting with praise even what the flesh finds hard. That way lies true enrichment.

I am the Lord's, and now no longer reckon myself to be my own but acknowledge in everything his ownership and authority. That is the attitude God delights in and to maintain it is true consecration. I do not consecrate myself to be a missionary or a preacher; I consecrate myself to God to do his will where I am, be it in school, office or kitchen or wherever he may, in his wisdom, send me. Whatever he ordains for me is sure to be the very best, for nothing but good can come to those who are wholly his.

May we always be possessed by the consciousness that we are not our own

All Glory and Honor to God