穿耳洞是一种普遍现象。在一些古老的部落传统中，人们扎耳洞是为了保护自己免受邪灵的伤害。然而，对今天的几乎每个人来说，穿洞主要是一种时尚宣言。
《圣经》描述了穿耳洞的传统，但这不是出于护身或时尚的原因。在出埃及记21章，我们发现一条律法，要求一个希伯来奴仆在七年之后被释放。通常人们为了偿还债务，就要成为别人的奴仆。但他们不会要求做一辈子的奴仆；相反，他们对自由抱有希望。
然而，在某些情况下，并不是所有奴仆都想七年之后获得自由；有些人更想留在主人身边。或许他们受到了很好的对待——也和自己的家人在一起——他们都想留在主人身边。又或许他们无法想像自己在别处生活会怎样。
在这种情况下，主人和仆人会去找法官，确保仆人真的想留下来。主人会把仆人带到门柱前，“用锥子穿他的耳朵，他就永远服事主人。”
这些做法和我们在基督里的新生命有相似之处。藉着牺牲，基督使我们获得自由。圣灵在我们里面做工，使得我们渴望成为神忠实的仆人。我们认识到神对我们如此之好，以至于没有任何地方比服事祂更加美好。
主啊，我不属自己，身体灵魂都属你。求使我预备自己，全心全意渴望为你而活。阿们。
出埃及记 21:1-6
1“你在百姓面前所要立的典章是这样：
2你若买希伯来人做奴仆，他必服侍你六年，第七年他可以自由，白白地出去。
3他若孤身来，就可以孤身去；他若有妻，他的妻就可以同他出去。
4他主人若给他妻子，妻子给他生了儿子或女儿，妻子和儿女要归主人，他要独自出去。
5倘或奴仆明说：‘我爱我的主人和我的妻子、儿女，不愿意自由出去。’
6他的主人就要带他到审判官那里，又要带他到门前，靠近门框，用锥子穿他的耳朵，他就永远服侍主人。
“Pierce his ear with an awl. Then he will be his servant for life.”“ — Exodus 21:6
Ear piercing is a widespread phenomenon. In some ancient tribal traditions, people pierced their ears in the hope of protecting themselves from evil spirits. For virtually everyone today, though, piercing is mainly a fashion statement.
The Bible describes a tradition of piercing ears, but that was not done for protection or fashion reasons. In Exodus 21, we find a rule requiring that after seven years, a Hebrew servant was to be set free. Often a person would become a servant of someone else to pay off a debt. But they were not required to be servants for life; instead, they had the hope of freedom.
In some situations, though, not all servants wanted to be free after seven years; some preferred to stay with their master. Maybe they were treated very well and—with the rest of their family—wanted to stay with the master. Perhaps they couldn’t imagine themselves living anywhere else.
In cases like that, the master and servant would go before a judge to ensure that the servant was willing to stay. The master would then take the servant to a doorpost and “pierce his ear with an awl. Then he [would] be his servant for life.”
These practices have parallels to our new life in Christ. By his sacrifice, Christ has set us free. The Holy Spirit moves in us so that we desire to be faithful servants of the Lord. We recognize how good God is to us, and there’s no other place we’d rather be than serving him.
Lord, “I am not my own, but belong—body and soul”—to you. Make me “wholeheartedly willing and ready” to live for you. Amen.
诵读: 骆云秀
片头: 张妙阳
