One of the reasons bondservants chose to stay with their master was because life was so much better in the master’s care. Perhaps sometimes bondservants would reflect on how life was before.
They could remember how miserable the nights were hoping someone would let them stay in their home. They could recall how painful it was watching their children miss another meal.
They could still feel the hopelessness and the emptiness. They remembered the embarrassment of wandering the streets at night with no place to go.
And life with their master, while not perfect, was so much better, so much more meaningful. Do you remember how empty life was away from your Master, apart from a relationship with God? Is not greatness found with your Master?
David cried to God, “Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere; I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked” (Ps. 84:10 NIV). David is saying, I would rather be a doorkeeper, a bouncer in God’s house, than live large in the tents of the wicked because true greatness comes from serving God.
Unfortunately, we sometimes forget that true greatness is serving our Master. We often suffer from memory loss as Christians, forgetting where greatness is found and living confused and misdirected lives.
In the movie Memento, the main character has an odd medical condition where he has no short-term memory. His wife was murdered, and he was injured during the attack. He can remember everything before the tragedy, but since the tragedy, he has no short-term memory. His world is extremely confusing because in the middle of a conversation, he forgets whom he is talking to, where he is or why he is there.
Every few minutes, he completely blanks out and starts over. To cope, he carries a Polaroid camera around with him and takes pictures of people he meets. He writes notes on the back of the photographs, telling himself whom he can and cannot trust. He tattoos important notes on his body, and he references the photographs and the markings on his body to navigate his everyday life.
