My Dad called yesterday because he was doing a study on a word in Scriptures and as he was studying he thought of me and that what he was reading might be of help to me. He gave me a call and talked through it with me. I love my Dad (my Mom too!). They are both encouragers in different ways. Anyway, I want down all this because it was so good. Anybody who reads this will know one of my greatest flaws but that is ok. I am human and we all have them. I have struggled with this GIANT since I was a child and that GIANT is fear. I love the perspective the following quote puts on servitude and fear.
In a discussion on Philippians 2: 7 which states that Christ took on the "form of a servant" (servant/doulos) it was noted that "when Christ takes on the form of a slave (Dell Johnson prefers they said 'servant' because a servant has a choice and is voluntary whereas a slave is choiceless...choiceless Christianity is Constantinian not New Testament where preaching is the method of persuasion, assuming the power to choose), he enters into full solidarity with mankind in its subjection to sin, law and death." "It is the form of the servant that exactly describes Jesus Christ's incarnation in the deepest abasement."
The discussion continues "Thus the Lord's form as a servant unmasks the nature of the unredeemed man as a 'doouleia." The sin of man's flesh is "man's obsession with the illusion that he can make or maintain his own life and freedom with reference only to himself and in his own power. That which the Greeks regarded as the highest form of freedom becomes in the N.T. the source of man's abject bondage. Man, bent in upon himself, obstinately waves God's help aside and busies himself in running his own life in his own strength, trusting in his own resources, and falls into the grip of fear (Romans 8:15, Hebrews 2:15). He trusts in the tangible and is subject to the 'bondage' of mortality (Romans 8:21).
I like the next discussion that says so appropreiately "Hence, the redeemed are called upon to 'serve one another in love." Yes, because Jesus said by this shall all men know that you are my disciples, that you love one another. Love, meaning serving, requires the release of our "obsession" with ourselves so we can focus on others.
These thoughts by R. Tuente in an article on "doulos" (Page 592ff) are from volume 3 of The New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology, Colin Brown, Editor, Zondervan publishers. 1971.
Last weekend when we went to the antique store Gabriel found a flag very similar to the one above except it wasn't made of paper. He LOVED the flag and wanted it for his room but it just wasn't in the finances right now. Annalina saw how much he loved it and the next day made him this flag so he would have one! Too Sweet! 
