By St. Nikolai Velimirovich
"For
the slave called in the Lord is a freed person in the Lord, just as the
free person who has been called is a slave of Christ" (I Corinthians
7:22).
The
great news that Christianity daily announces to the world is that
nothing is evaluated at full value according to its external appearance
but by its essence. Do not evaluate things according to its color and
shape but by its meaning. Do not evaluate a man by his position and
property but by his heart – by his heart in which are united his
feeling, his reason and his will.
According
to this, for the world always a new teaching, he is not a slave who is
outwardly enslaved; neither is he free who possesses outward physical
freedom.
According
to secular understanding, the slave is one who enjoys the world the
least and a free man is one who enjoys the world the most. According to
Christian understanding, a slave is one who least enjoys from the living
and sweet Christ and the free man is one who enjoys most from the
living and sweet Christ.
Further,
according to secular understanding, the slave is one who carries out
his own will less frequently and who carries out the will of others more
frequently, and a free man is one who carries out his will more often
and even less often the will of others. However, according to Christian
understanding, the slave is one who carries out his will more often and
even less often the will of God, and the free man is one who carries out
the will of God more frequently and who carries out even less
frequently, his own will.
To
be a slave to the Lord is the only true and worthy freedom of man and,
to be a slave to the world and to one’s self, sin and vice is the only
fatal slavery.
Of
the kings on the throne, a man would think: Are there any more free men
on earth than those? However, many kings were the most base and the
most unworthy slaves of the earth.
Of
shackled Christians in the dungeons, a man would think: Are there any
more miserable slaves on earth than they? However, the Christian martyrs
in the prisons felt as free men and were filled with spiritual joy;
they chanted Psalms and raised up prayers of gratitude to God.
Freedom
which is tied to grief and sorrow is not freedom but slavery. Only
freedom in Christ is tied with unspeakable joy. Lasting joy is the mark
of true freedom.
O
Lord Jesus, the only Good Lord, Who grants us freedom when You tie us
stronger to Yourself, make us Your slaves as soon as possible that we
would cease to be slaves of cruel and unmerciful masters. To You be
glory and thanks always. Amen.
