Deal with your servant according to your love and teach me your decrees. (Ps. 119:124)

WHAT KIND OF MASTER would you rather serve? One who only wants the most he can get out of you without caring about who you are and what you need? Or would you rather be under the commanding authority of a master who loves you and is looking out for your best interests? An easy question to answer! Any relationship is better when there is a mutual respect and even love between the parties.

Imagine how constructive it would be to serve a Master who knows you, loves you, and wants to teach you how to live. God is the Master who, despite all our failures, deals with us in all matters in the context of His love. His patient guidance is there always, ready to instruct and encourage us. He reels us in when we have gone our own way, yet holds us accountable without condemnation. This is the Master who invites His servants to a higher calling. Not only for His glory, but also for our eternal benefit.

We are all servants of or slaves to something. But we cannot be elevated beyond our bondage when we serve a master whose only focus is the temporal things of the world. We choose who or what we will serve. Why not choose a loving, caring God? He will deal with you in mercy and grace.

Make an assessment of the masters you serve, and choose wisely.

Jan Cline is the author of three devotional books. She is a speaker and founder and director of a Christian writers’ conference in the Northwest.