Pierced Ears

Then he will be his servant for life. -Exodus 21:6-

John Carvalho goes to a pretty conservative church, so the sight of men wearing earrings still causes raised eyebrows. So you can imagine their surprise when he chairman of their board of deacons showed up at a church meeting wearing one. (It was all a joke; the earring was held on with a magnet.)

In Moses' time, a pierced ear was not used to make a fashion statement. Instead, it showed a slave's devoted love for a kind master.

In Exodus 21, it tells us that according to God's law, all slave owners were to free their slaves every seventh year. But if a slave loved his master, he would have his ear pierced at his master's doorpost. This demonstrated that the slave was making a lifetime commitment to his master.

The apostle Paul urged us to make the same kind of commitment to the Lord. In fact, Paul often referred to himself as Christ's servant (Romans 1:1; Philippians 1;1), signifying the same slavery by choice.

In one sense, God offers us our freedom every day. We are free either to serve Him or to serve our own selfish desires. The challenge is for us to present our bodies to Him as living sacrifices (Romans 12:1), not desiring selfish freedom but willingly following God.

No, you don't have to go out and pierce your ear to show your loyalty to Christ. Instead, let your life show everyone around you that you are God's servant to life-because He redeemed you through Jesus Christ and because you want to serve Him.

Written by John Carvalho
Campus Journal