On Les Miserables And Slavery

Have you seen this movie or read this book? My goodness it is incredible! Get it done. But for those who haven't had the pleasure, let me explain my excitement. The story is set in France and begins with a convict asking to stay the night at the home of a bishop. He was a thief who served 19 years in prision and no one would dare let him into their home. The bishop, the rockstar that he is, agrees to feed, clothe, and put Jean up for the night.

Jean wakes up in the middle of the night to steal the bishop's silverwear (the legit old-school actually made of silver kind) before making his escape by slapping this poor bishop unconcious. Way to repay him, I know. The next day some soldiers catch up to Jean ValJean and bring him back to the bishop. Jean has claimed the silverwear was given to him, but the soldiers see through his lie. Incredibly, the bishop not only confirms the story, but adds a pair of silver candlesticks to what he has already taken, scolding him for not taking them also. Huh?

As everyone sort of wallows in the stunned silence, the bishop grabs ValJean and tells him:

"Don't forget. Don't ever forget. You have promised to become a new man...Jean ValJean, my brother, you no longer belong to evil. With this silver I have bought your soul. I have ransomed you from fear and hatred, and now I give you back to God."

BOOYAH! Why is it that I love this line so much? It is stinkin powerful isn't it!? ValJean has been an evil man for 19 years and just like that...he gets bought up. No longer belonging to his evil past ways.

"Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you received from God. You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore, honor God with your body."

It is the imagery that I love here. BOUGHT. This means essentially that I am a slave!! Nothing I do is my own, nothing I own is my own; My money and all my things belong to Jesus.

But isn't slavery terrible?? The answer, I suppose, depends greatly upon the Person that you are a slave to. Now I can see all of our minds fading to images of the slavery that went on in the southern colonies before the American Civil War. And I agree that this is a terrible pictue. But how about being a slave to someone who doesn't want to take advantage of you; Someone who promises to love you, provide for you, be your strength, use your weakness, and who plans to have you share in His inheritance FOREVER.

I don't know about you, but I am exhausted with not being a slave to someone like that.

16Don't you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? 17But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted. 18You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.
Romans 6:16-18

BE A SLAVE.