Choose today whom you will serve.

Yesterday, I spent a very pleasant time in the town of Dumbarton, at the annual Scottish Pipe Band Championship. The first thing to strike me – other than the constant skirl of the Great Highland Bagpipe (A' Phìob Mhòr) – was the number of young people involved in the 113 bands that were on parade. Having been a bandsman (in the dim and distant past!!) I have some idea of the level of dedication that is involved in such an activity. The hours of practice that are involved, even without reaching championship standard, are many, and it was refreshing to see so many of the youthful members of our society commit themselves to achieving such high standards.

Another sight, that caused me to stop, was the use of electronic tuners to ensure that the drones of each set of pipes in each band were all tuned to precisely the same note. I mentioned the use of modern equipment in sport in an earlier post, and wondered how well athletes and sportsmen of an earlier era would have done with such modern aids. Yesterday, I wondered how long it might be before there was no one left who could tune a set of pipes ‘by ear’!!

But what, you might be wondering, has all of that to do with the heading that I’ve given to this post? Well, I suppose that I could argue that those electronic tuners were serving the band by ensuring that the optimum sound emanated from the bagpipes in question. However, the heading has really to do with another sight that I witnessed while driving to Dumbarton. As I left the M74 to make my way on to the M8, I was overtaken by about 20 motor-cyclists. These were no youngsters; each one was dressed in similar – if not identical – leathers; and each tunic had, emblazoned on the back, the legend “Slaves of Satan”.

They were, I supposed, a group of what we used to refer to as “Hell’s angels”, and it may well be that they were the gentlest bunch of men that one could hope to meet. However, my mind went off at a tangent. Many of the writers of the New Testament letters refer to themselves as “servant of Jesus Christ” (cf. Rom.1:1; James 1:1; II Pet, 1:1; Jude 1:1); but the Greek word that is often translated ‘servant’ – the word doulos – is more correctly translated ‘slave’. A slave, of course, has no rights at all. His master has the literal power of life and death over him. He belongs to his master to be dealt with in any way that the latter chooses. I wondered if those motor-cyclists fully understood the concept!

In the Old Testament book of Joshua, that great leader of the early Jewish people challenged his contemporaries as to their personal allegiance. “…honour YHWH and serve him wholeheartedly. Put away forever the idols your ancestors worshiped when they lived beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt. Serve YHWH alone. But if you are unwilling to serve YHWH, then choose today whom you will serve. Would you prefer the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates? Or will it be the gods of the Amorites in whose land you now live? But as for me and my family, we will serve YHWH.” (24:14-15).

The challenge is the same today. If you are not the slave of the Lord Jesus then, like it or not, you are a slave of the devil! (cf. Lk.9:50). The choice, of course, is always yours – the Saviour, or the satan? May you make the wise choice, and serve Him in Whose service is perfect freedom.