Reading: Romans 6: 11-14
Reflective Thoughts
You are free …
“No ma’am. We ain’t had no celebration after we was freed. We ain’t know we was free ’til a good while afta. We ain’t know it ’til General Wheeler come thru and tell us. After that, de massa and missus let all de slaves go ‘cepting me; they kept me to work in de house and de garden.”
Fannie Griffin of South Carolina was 94 when she was interviewed by writers for the “Born in Slavery” project in the 1930s. After the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, thousands remained in slavery because they didn’t know they had been declared free. Others stayed willingly. Their decisions varied, but for some, slavery was better than the uncertainty–and the fear of a different kind of suffering.
In Romans 6:11-14 Paul announces to you an emancipation proclamation. In Christ, you have been released from your slavery, whether you know it or not. It is simply a fact. Will you leave? Or are you still working the master’s house and garden?