Saturday after the Fifteenth Sunday after Trinity Sunday
Posted on September 14, 2024 by under
Scripture: 1 Corinthians 7:20-24 (NKJV)
7:20 Let each one remain in the same calling in which he was called. 21 Were you called while a slave? Do not be concerned about it; but if you can be made free, rather use it. 22 For he who is called in the Lord while a slave is the Lord’s freedman. Likewise he who is called while free is Christ’s slave. 23 You were bought at a price; do not become slaves of men. 24 Brethren, let each one remain with God in that state in which he was called.
Devotion
We are all conceived in sin and born as slaves. No one is free from the curse of sin. We are in bondage to sin and death. Since we are in bondage to sin and death, since we are slaves to sin, it matters not whether we are a slave or a free man. For we are already spiritual slaves to sin.
Our freedom is in the Christ. He has taken sin upon Himself, upon the tree of the holy cross, so that He might free us from the bondage of sin and death. Those who cling in faith to the Lord Jesus are free from sin and death. They are no longer slaves. We are free men! It matters not what our earthly condition is, for either we remain a slave spiritually on account of unbelief, or we are spiritually free because of faith. The Son of God sets us free.
Therefore, St. Paul can tell the Church at Corinth to remain in the same calling in which they were called. They have a greater calling than what the world sees in one’s vocation. We have been called to be slaves of the Christ. He has bought us with the price of His innocent suffering and death so that we are no longer slaves to sin and death, but are free men in Christ.
Collect: O Lord, we beseech Thee, let Thy continual pity cleanse and defend Thy Church; and because it cannot continue in safety without Thy succor, preserve it evermore by Thy help and goodness; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
