This is a great story that has been around for while but it is a great illustration of grace.
During Abraham Lincoln’s time as president he strongly campaigned against slavery. At one point, he even bought a slave girl just to set her free but the girl was confused as this was completely outside her experience. He handed over her ownership papers and told her she was free to do whatever she wanted. The girl had been a slave all her life and was having trouble grasping the implications of what it meant to be free. “I can choose to do whatever I like?” she asked. “Yes”, said Lincoln. “I can choose to go wherever I like?” she asked. “Yes”, said Lincoln. “I can choose to work where I want?” she asked. “Yes”, said Lincoln. When she had finished her questions and the enormity of what Lincoln had done for her sank in, she said to him, “Well sir, if that’s the case, I choose to serve you all the days of my life.”
It’s a great illustration of what God has done for us. We were slaves to sin, unable to free ourselves but God took the initiative. He sent Jesus and paid the price so we could be free. When the enormity of what God has done for us sinks in we realize that we no longer serve God because we are slaves, or because we owe it to God, or because it is our duty but rather we choose to serve God because we are so grateful Romans 7:6 puts it this way: “Now we can serve God, not in the old way of obeying the letter of the law, but in the new way of living in the Spirit.”
