A Slave or Not A Slave? That is the question!
By Holly M. Roddam
The story of the first American missionaries to Burma* got me thinking about how slavery has been part of man’s history since the beginning. Time magazine reported in January 2010 that despite more than a dozen international bans on slavery in the past 150 years, there are more slaves today than any other time in human history.
Being only three generations out of slavery myself, I can’t comprehend people thinking they can own others, and treat them with such brutality. And yet, I don't always treat people the way I should. Maybe it shouldn't be so hard to understand!
It was with curiosity and interest that I read Pulitzer Prize winner, Alex Tizon's final story for The Atlantic magazine, “My Family’s Slave” **, a moving story about how Alex’s family came to America in 1964 from the Philippines, and brought Lola, a Filipino slave, with them. She served the family for 56 years until she died.
I was struck by the power of Lola’s love and ability to put a family who often mistreated her, before herself. Obviously, I don't believe in slavery, but I admire how Lola demonstrated what St Paul said, "I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through him who gives me strength." Phil 4:12-13 NIV
I wonder if Lola knew Jesus. She certainly lived like Jesus! There was nothing to say that she even knew Him, but I wonder too, that there aren’t many who meet Jesus in a way that our Evangelical model would never consider or believe! Scripture says that creation witnesses to the love of God, and Jesus is a friend to the outcast and sinner. There is no excuse for not knowing Him.
My hope is that I too will know the secret of being content in my situation. I have been privileged in so many ways, and yet, mostly I have seen what I haven't had, or what the Lord hasn't done for me. But I am learning. You can be free on the outside but a slave inside, and you can be a slave on the outside, but truly free on the inside.
I don't understand suffering, especially when people are pouring their lives out for God. Adoniram Judson and all the first American Overseas missionaries, willingly, and painfully, gave up their lives for the sake of the gospel. Today hundreds of thousands of Christians are tortured and martyred for their faith. But I do know that God's ways are higher. I trust that He is good and what He does is good, whether I understand it or not. I am thankful for the lives of those who have lived this truth for the rest of us to see.
Please, Jesus, may my life encourage those coming behind me.
*http://christianaudio.com/adoniram-judson-janet-benge-geoff-benge-audiobook-download
** https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2017/06/lolas-story/524490/
The story of the first American missionaries to Burma* got me thinking about how slavery has been part of man’s history since the beginning. Time magazine reported in January 2010 that despite more than a dozen international bans on slavery in the past 150 years, there are more slaves today than any other time in human history.
Being only three generations out of slavery myself, I can’t comprehend people thinking they can own others, and treat them with such brutality. And yet, I don't always treat people the way I should. Maybe it shouldn't be so hard to understand!
It was with curiosity and interest that I read Pulitzer Prize winner, Alex Tizon's final story for The Atlantic magazine, “My Family’s Slave” **, a moving story about how Alex’s family came to America in 1964 from the Philippines, and brought Lola, a Filipino slave, with them. She served the family for 56 years until she died.
I was struck by the power of Lola’s love and ability to put a family who often mistreated her, before herself. Obviously, I don't believe in slavery, but I admire how Lola demonstrated what St Paul said, "I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through him who gives me strength." Phil 4:12-13 NIV
I wonder if Lola knew Jesus. She certainly lived like Jesus! There was nothing to say that she even knew Him, but I wonder too, that there aren’t many who meet Jesus in a way that our Evangelical model would never consider or believe! Scripture says that creation witnesses to the love of God, and Jesus is a friend to the outcast and sinner. There is no excuse for not knowing Him.
My hope is that I too will know the secret of being content in my situation. I have been privileged in so many ways, and yet, mostly I have seen what I haven't had, or what the Lord hasn't done for me. But I am learning. You can be free on the outside but a slave inside, and you can be a slave on the outside, but truly free on the inside.
I don't understand suffering, especially when people are pouring their lives out for God. Adoniram Judson and all the first American Overseas missionaries, willingly, and painfully, gave up their lives for the sake of the gospel. Today hundreds of thousands of Christians are tortured and martyred for their faith. But I do know that God's ways are higher. I trust that He is good and what He does is good, whether I understand it or not. I am thankful for the lives of those who have lived this truth for the rest of us to see.
Please, Jesus, may my life encourage those coming behind me.
*http://christianaudio.com/adoniram-judson-janet-benge-geoff-benge-audiobook-download
** https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2017/06/lolas-story/524490/
2 comments:
Lola's story was haunting. And I wonder what our country would be like if the progeny from the slave trade were back where they started and not here. Maybe I am being naive or ignorant, but I suspect this is allowed by God for a greater purpose that has yet to be fully revealed. Something to do with a people group who passed through brutal refiners fire to produce a powerful outpouring of God's glory that is going to set our nation on fire and spread back to where these ancestors came from.
But what do I know? My family has barely lived in this land- grandparents came over on mom's side; great-grandparents on dad's side. All of us northern European, no slavery that i know of, although heartbreak and other challenges.
What i know is the demonic attacks on those who carry strong anointing are ferocious and unrelenting.
Love you Holly. You are a blessing.
Hi Sandy. I hope you are right about revival breaking out and going back to homelands!
I think about the scripture that says Jesus was perfected in His suffering, and have to believe that if He needed to suffer, then how much more do we! I have to believe that there is a greater purpose.
I know with my own family, becoming FREE drove my grandfather to greatness and to want to see others become free in spirit and truth!
God's ways are so much higher than ours and we see so little of the big picture. It is good to know that He is LOVE, and that what He does is good - even if we don't think so!! God is no debtor to anyone. He rewards the faithful and comforts the broken-hearted. It will all be revealed in the end.
Love you too :)
Peace & Love,
Holly M. <><
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