Door of No Return – Romans 6 AMPC

But now since you have been set free from sin and have become the slaves of God, you have your present reward in holiness and its end is eternal life. For the wages which sin pays is death, but the [bountiful] free gift of God is eternal life through (in union with) Jesus Christ our Lord. (22-23)

Yesterday, I made a trip to Goree Island in Senegal that profoundly impacted me. This small island off the coast of Dakar was the departure point for millions of slaves who were taken from West Africa to the Americas. Hearing the historical accounts of brutality, families being ripped apart and separated, and the loss of dignity and identity of African people that I dearly love, all the while stooping in the cramped dungeon where they were held, was overwhelming. It was even more unsettling that this place was an integral part of my own country’s history. We have visited other sites like this in East Africa, but there, the perpetrators were Arabs, and it creates a sort of cognitive dissonance that an American can insulate himself with. On Goree, it is personal and painful, and as we wept trying to make sense of the “why” while our African guide also wept trying to make sense of the “why,” I gained a whole new appreciation for the African-American perspective informed by the pain of centuries of loss and suffering from slavery.

Yesterday, I stood in a place that had been a slave market and distribution point for 400 years under the Dutch, the Portuguese, the British, and the French. There are no good guys in that story, not even the African collaborators that helped. Then, I turned in my regular bible reading this morning and landed on Romans 6:22, where God uses the very practice of slavery (around since the beginning of time) to describe my relationship with Him. Honestly, it was a bit disconcerting, and I had to stop and meditate on my experiences yesterday and what this ancient text is saying to me today. Why does the Lord use arguably the greatest scar of sin in the world to describe our beautiful relationship with Him for all of eternity? I hope the answers will bless you as they have me.

You see, all of us are already born into slavery to sin, but in Christ, Paul says we have been set free. Yet, that freedom is not freedom to live as our own masters—that would just be another bondage. Instead, serving an infinitely good, loving, and gracious God is freedom. The price He paid for us was not silver and gold but His very life. He is not some slave master who lives on the second floor of the house, enjoying the tropical view while we suffer in stifling, cramped conditions, awaiting our fate. He is the master who joins us in our cell, loves us, heals us, dwells with us, and sets us free to live in abundance with Him. Being the slave of God means a present reward of “holiness and the end is eternal life.” Think about that; the present reward for those in Goree was suffering at the hands of depraved sinners and, in the end, annihilation. Our present reward is holiness, and the end is eternal life. What a contrast!

In the Slave Houses on Goree, there was a door called the “door of no return” that opened onto the ocean. That door was where you were forced directly onto the ship, to never again see your family, your homeland, or freedom. It was the annihilation of your heritage, your identity, your dignity, and, for those who failed to survive the crossing, your very life. Yet, in Christ, we have a door of no return. This door is good and means freedom from sin and eternal life in union with Jesus Christ our Lord. I hesitate to make these comparisons because I don’t want to give you the impression that there is anything good or redeemable about Goree. There is nothing noble or beneficial in the 400 years of human depravity and greed that turned the world upside down. Yet, it stands in stark contrast to the goodness and grace we find in Christ and the joy of being His slave. God uses the most horrific of analogies to show us how incredible He is, and He invites us to go through a different door of “no return” that is infinitely better. One door meant death and loss in every way; the door to Him means life, freedom, and grace forever. Who wouldn’t sign up for service to a God like that?