Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

“You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him.

• John 13:13-16

“But you are not to be called ‘Rabbi,’ for you have one Teacher, and you are all brothers.

• Matthew 23:8

Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered

• Hebrews 5:8

“To have a master and teacher is not the same thing as being mastered and taught. Having a master and teacher means that there is someone who knows me better than I know myself, who is closer than a friend, and who understands the remotest depths of my heart and is able to satisfy them fully. It means having someone who has made me secure in the knowledge that he has met and solved all the doubts, uncertainties, and problems in my mind. To have a master and teacher is this and nothing less— “…for One is your Teacher, the Christ…” (Matthew 23:8).
“Our Lord never takes measures to make me do what He wants. Sometimes I wish God would master and control me to make me do what He wants, but He will not. And at other times I wish He would leave me alone, and He does not.
“ ‘You call Me Teacher and Lord…’— but is He? Teacher, Master, and Lord have little place in our vocabulary. We prefer the words Savior, Sanctifier, and Healer. The only word that truly describes the experience of being mastered is love, and we know little about love as God reveals it in His Word. The way we use the word obey is proof of this. In the Bible, obedience is based on a relationship between equals; for example, that of a son with his father. Our Lord was not simply God’s servant— He was His Son. ‘…though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience…’ (Hebrews 5:8). If we are consciously aware that we are being mastered, that idea itself is proof that we have no master. If that is our attitude toward Jesus, we are far away from having the relationship He wants with us. He wants us in a relationship where He is so easily our Master and Teacher that we have no conscious awareness of it— a relationship where all we know is that we are His to obey.”

• Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest

We wish to be our own masters, someone answerable to no one.

But there are two problems with that, maybe more.  One is that most of us do not do a good job of mastering our lives when there are hundreds of other self-masters out there trying to run us over while they master their lives.  And the second problem is that God commands us to worship only Him.  God wants us to freely give up the thought of mastering our lives and bow down to Him alone.

When you have been around for a while, that is a massive load off your shoulders.  Being your own master is not that easy, downright impossible.  Those that say they are their own masters are delusional. There is always someone who lords it over anyone on earth.  You want to be the boss of your own company with no one to answer?  Then what about your customers?  Presidents of the USA have been chopped down to size when the rest of the world disagrees and refuses to cooperate.

But God loves us and will not make our burden too great.  He will not abuse us or torment us.  Others may persecute us due to our faith, but God is with us even then.

And to include that God is our teacher, we have the perfect expression of love.  God gives us the freedom to choose.  He rules over us with kindness.  And He teaches us and guides us.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.