Servant to All

For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them.

                                             1 Corinthians 9:19

               As a Christian I am free from sin and free from the hold it had on me. But also as a Christian I have now become a slave to Christ, which makes me a slave to all those around me. Because by serving those around me I serve Jesus Christ. Making myself like the people that surround me and serving them on a level they understand. As we’ve been studying here to become a student of culture, I learn that I must study the actions and responses of those whom I live life with and those who I want to reach out to. By doing this I can relate with them on a deeper level and they will see the effort I am putting forth to do so. Paul is saying here how he has done that. Not that he has become a part of the world and began to sin all the more, but he has studied his surroundings and those who he reaches out to that he may act like them in a sense to relate with them and form a deeper relationship with them. I am told as a follower of Jesus to be set apart from this world, to be in it but not of it. Getting to know how people act and being able to relate to them as long as it doesn’t go against what the Lord asks of us. Having freedom in Christ and praying about how the Lord would have me go about this, knowing my limits and not pushing them. The Lord has called us to reach out to those around us and share His good truth, so we must be able to relate to people and understand where they are coming from sometimes.

Application- pray that God would help me to be open to those around me and not seclude myself just because I’m a Christian.