"slaves of Christ Jesus"

I shared with you in a previous post that one of my goals this year is to memorize the book of Philippians. Each week is dedicated to not only memorizing about 6 verses but spending time really meditating on those verses and what they mean. This morning I spent some time doing a few word studies and the one that has really resonated with me is the idea of being a "slave of Christ Jesus." In the very first verse this is how Paul and Timothy identified themselves. They don't introduce themselves as "hi, I am Paul, I am from ______, I am ______, I have _____, I went to school at _____, I work at _____." Their one identifying description is that they are slaves of Christ Jesus...meaning they are in a state of willing bondage under the control of Jesus Christ.

In thinking about this it took me back to my trip to Uganda this summer. I will never forget the first time we met with a group of believers for worship on a university campus and the students began introducing themselves. The very first one said, "I am John and I have been a follower of Jesus Christ for 5 years." I sat back and was just humbled that that was the one and only thing he saw fitting to describe himself. Meanwhile I was pillaging through what I wanted to tell them about myself. Shame.

I have a confession....I am still not there yet. In fact as I studied that this morning and I write this even now I am ashamed and under conviction that yesterday instead of being a slave of Christ Jesus I spent almost the entire day being a slave (and victim) of my circumstances. Back in August my car was hit by a student on campus and the agreement was that she would just pay for the damages out of pocket. Here we are in January and she still had not fixed my car. Even worse she came to see me yesterday and told me that the reason she hasn't paid me is that she feels that I am taking advantage of her and she feels that I am partially to blame because my car was parked in her spot. By the time our conversation had ended with raised voices and tempers flaring my blood pressure was through the roof. For the rest of the day my head pounded, my attitude was poor towards anyone I encountered and I told anyone and everyone who would listen how ridiculous I thought this situation was. I am still upset about it today and probably will be until the situation is reconciled but it doesn't have to determine my attitude, my joy, my demeanor towards others.

Today....my goal is to choose to live like a willing slave of Christ Jesus...not a slave to my circumstances, not a slave to my job....a slave of Christ Jesus who will always act with integrity and in my best interest, who will love me unconditionally and who is the giver of all peace and joy. If you read this today or whenever you read this...pray for me. Paul is gracious to remind me in verse 6 of this same chapter that I am still a work in progress and it was God alone who began a good work in me and God alone who will complete it. My job is to follow his lead and not be an obstacle in my own path to becoming more like Jesus.