Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Pierce My Ear, Lord

James 1:1 "James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes scattered among the nations: Greetings."

Upon reading James 1:1 and contemplating the statement James made regarding his servanthood to his half-brother, Jesus, I immediately thought of another scripture: Exodus 21:1, 2 and 5, 6: 1 "These are the laws you are to set before them: 2 "If you buy a Hebrew servant, he is to serve you for six years. But in the seventh year, he shall go free, without paying anything…. 5 "But if the servant declares, 'I love my master and my wife and children and do not want to go free,' 6 then his master must take him before the judges. [a] He shall take him to the door or the doorpost and pierce his ear with an awl. Then he will be his servant for life.

and I also thought about a song that our former worship leader sang called “Pierce My Ear, Lord”:

PIERCE MY EAR

Pierce my ear, O Lord my God
Take me to Your door this day
I will serve no other God
Lord, I'm here to stay

For You have paid the price for me
With Your blood You ransomed me
I will serve you eternally
A free man I'll never be

So pierce my ear. . .
© 1980 Dayspring Music (BMI) (a div. of Word, Inc.)

As Americans, the thought of human-slavery turns our stomach. However, as Christians, our goal should be to be so submissive to the will and mind of Christ, that we would desire He would pierce our ear. We should desire that we would never be free to our own self-will but always in every action, attuned to His heart and mind for ourselves. Slavery is absolutely appropriate as we choose to be the slaves of the Lord Jesus, whom we love and long to serve for all their lives.

Christ gave each of us free-will to make choices in life, however, as Christians we should love our Christ so much that we want to be made a bond-servant to Him. We are under no obligation to stay but we should want to cling close. Having an ear pierced by the master was not just an agreement. It was not about the master hiring the servant. It was an act of one who voluntarily said to someone he had come to know, love and trust, “I am yours. I belong to you and want to spend the rest of my life fulfilling your wishes.” The ear-piercing ceremony became a public show of surrender. The decision of the servant was not reversible. He would always have that hole in his ear to remind him that he was not his own and never would be again.

What a beautiful example that is of how I desire my relationship with my Master to be. I want people to look at me and see the marks and attributes of Christ when they look at me and see my interactions with others.

It is obvious that James desired that same thing. Why else would he have humbled himself to servanthood status when he could have said, “James, brother of Jesus.” The first verse of the book of James is a small little verse but is packed-full of wisdom for us in our relationship with Christ.

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