My Slave Journal for Jesus

Doulos is the Greek word for slave. Slavery certainly has negative connotations for pretty much everybody these days, obviously because of the racism and inhuman treatment so often associated with it. However, what if I chose to be a slave? Would it still be so nasty a word?

Everyday doulos is a personal challenge for me. I want to choose every day to be a slave for my Lord, Jesus Christ. I am still not very good at it. I am as selfish as they come, but I have a goal to work toward.

This journey started for me when I was 6 years old. I don't remember many details, and those that I do remember are probably only ingrained in my memory based on my mom's retelling of the story. But that summer I came to an awareness of my own sin and my need for a savior. I'm sure I wouldn't have said it quite like that - probably more likely that I was simply aware that I did stuff wrong and I wanted to be sure I was going to end up in heaven. (That and I think I remember my brother saying that he "got saved" and I wanted to do whatever he did...) Whatever the case may be, I was sitting at the kitchen table and I asked my mom what I have to do to be saved. My mom, the ever-considerate human being that she is, didn't want me to get saved yet! Okay, that probably sounds meaner than it should. She actually was being considerate - she wanted to wait to lead me in the sinner's prayer until my dad got home so he could be there too. Unfortunately for my father, the Holy Spirit used my mom's matter-of-fact answer to guide me in saving faith. I did exactly what my mom said was necessary - I admitted my sinfulness, believed that Jesus died and rose again for my sins, and accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior.

That's it. That was the moment that Christ became my Lord and I dedicated myself to being His slave. Even after 18 years of servitude I am still a pretty terrible slave. I'm disobedient, I complain ALL THE TIME, I'm ungrateful and unloving, but most importantly I'm forgiven.