This is definitely not ears dropping, and listen through a door. In Deuteronomy, yes it talks about slavery. Shock horror!! Let read parts of it:

Deuteronomy 15 verse 12 to 18: {Message Bible}

V12 to 15: “If a Hebrew man or woman was sold to you and has served you for six years, the seventh year you must set him or her free, released into free life. And when you set them free don’t send them off empty-handed. Provide them with some animals, plenty of bread and wine and oil. Load them with provisions from all the blessing with which God, your God, has blessed you. Don’t for one minute forget that you were once slaves in Egypt and God, your God, redeemed you from the slave world. For that reason, this day I command you to do this”.

Slave were to be treated well, and on most occasion were treated as members of the family, even though they were still slave.

V16 to 17: “But if your slave, because he loves you and your family and has a good life with you, says ‘I don’t want to leave you’, then take an awl and pierce through his earlobe into the doorpost, marking him as your slave forever. Do the same with your woman slaves who want to stay with you”.

In letters Paul often referred to himself as a servant of Christ in {Romans 1 verse 1 and Titus 1 v 1}. likewise Peter did in {2 Peter 1 verse 1} and also James in. {James 1 verse 1}. The Greek word use as servant, is ‘douloi’ which really means slave. People have trouble with the word slave, because slaves over time have been treated badly.

But you can see this was not God’s way He wanted slave treated, and why would a slave want to stay with his master for life if he was treated badly.. This is a reflection that may people need to look at, because they seem to justify their own causes, because of slavery mentioned in the Bible.

Well Paul was describing his relationship with Jesus as slavery, and in his day people would have been very familiar with the reference.

This is consistent picture across the Bible, Just one example of many is found in Matthew 6 verse 24;

“No one can be a slave to two masters, since either he will hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot be slaves of God and money”.

Lets get to the point: we were made to serve. If you are not slaves of Christ, then you will be slaves to an idol, to money, career, status, family, pleasure, you name it what holds our attention more than God.

Every moment of our lives we are serving something. If you are not a follower of Our Lord and Our Friend, what are you serving? And if you are a Christian, think back to the last time you disobeyed Him. At that point, what were you serving instead? What were you looking to to provide joy, satisfaction, comfort or security, at the price of disobeying Our Lord and Our Friend.

Christ Jesus, Our Lord and Our Friend is our All Sufficiency, we could not serve anybody or anything that loves us as much as Him.

I for one, have no problem with becoming a love slave to Our Lord and Our Friend, and would consider it an honor to put my ear up to the door, to identify as one, and a person who wants to stay in the household of such an Awesome and Wonderful Master.

God Bless.

O F J.