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You Are Not A Slave, A Meditation

James Cathcart September 28, 2026 0 0
You Are Not A Slave, A Meditation

You are not a slave.

In Deuteronomy 5: 12–15 we hear about the Sabbath, a weekly day of rest that tell’s God’s people that they are categorically not slaves. They cannot be worked to the bone, they cannot be told to give and give until they give out. These ancient words from an ancient text told these people that they were more than what they could gather, make, produce, achieve. Resting is not time off from following God, resting IS following God.

Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and that the Lord your God brought you out of there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the Lord your God has commanded you to observe the Sabbath day (verse 15).

But there are voices all the time — then and now — in work, in politics, in social media, in our homes, in our churches… and worst of all perhaps in our own heads, that nag us, that tell us we can’t take that much time to rest. Or if we do we must earn it; rest is conditional, it’s ’time off’, not an integral part of life.

Then are the bosses that don’t care about us ever unplugging and switching off. The family members that expect you to always respond to every beck and call. The community volunteer group that would ‘fall apart without you.’ 

Then there are the sinister practitioners of modern slavery who traffic and profit in human misery. Who trample over the rights of people, treating them like objects. There are people smuggled into illegal jobs and factory workers forced to work with insufficient protection or rest. All to fuel an economy that forces people into precarious distribution work to provide us with the things we need in order to hit another deadline, another target, another shareholder meeting. 

But, thousands of years ago God said this isn’t right. Rest is fundamental to who you are because you are not a slave. For a slave rest is optional, not the option of the slave of course, but at the whim of the master. But rest is not optional for humans. Rest is not a bonus, something that’s nice to have.

So here’s a meditation to offer another voice against all the ones that trap us in obligations to one another. This meditation was first shared in our Sanctuary First Sunday Prayer stream on Saturday 27th September 2026.

 

You are not a slave.

 

You are not a slave to your boss.

You are not a slave to your line-manager.

You are not a slave to your teammates.

You are not a slave to the economy. 

You are not a slave to your community. 

You are not a slave to your country. 

You are not a slave to your family.

You are not a slave to your parents.

You are not a slave to your children.

You are not a slave to your teacher. 

You are not salve to your lecturer.

You are not a slave to your God.

 

You are not a resource to be mined. 

You are not a precious extract to be carved out of the ground. 

You are not a labourer to give until you can’t give any more.

 

You are not your output. 

You are not your report card.

You are not your promotion.

You are not your balance statement.

You are not what you have achieved.

You are not an imposter. 

You are not your LinkedIn profile.

 

You are not your house.

Your are not a holiday in Spain.

You are not a bigger car next year.

 

You are not a commodity. 

You are not a ‘human resource’.

You are not expendable. 

You are not a strategic vocational asset. 

 

You are not a slave to the bottom line. 

You are not a slave to the clock. 

You are not a slave to productivity. 

 

You are not a slave for your friends.

You are not a slave for your neighbours.

You are not a slave for a charity.

You are not a slave to the parent-teacher council. 

You are not a slave to the football team. 

You are not a slave to the sewing group.

 

You are not a slave to your church. 

You are not a slave to your minister.

You are not a slave to the congregation. 

You are not a slave to your Kirk Session. 

You are not a slave to your deacons. 

You are not a slave to the ministry team. 

You are not a slave to the PCC. 

You are not a slave to the leadership council. 

You are a slave to your Presbytery. 

You are not a slave to a Synod. 

You are not a slave to your home group. 

You are not a slave to your God.

 

You are not a slave.

You must rest. 

You must not treat yourself like an object. 

You are not a tank of fuel. 

You are not a candle burning at both ends. 

You are not a pack animal. 

You are not a beast of burden. 

You are not a cup pouring always outwards, pouring pouring.

 

You must take time to breathe and to rest. God says so.

God is creative and nurturing and productive, but God also rests.

Despite what society tells us, despite what our boss might tell us, or our friends, or our neighbours or our Kirk Session… rest is not a reward. 

Rest is not something you’ll get round to when you have time. 

Rest is not a luxury.

Rest is not an indulgence.

Rest is not opting out.

Rest is not giving up.

Rest is not just for old people.

Rest if not just for young people. 

Rest is not throwing in the towel. 

Rest is not selfish. 

Rest is not for the weak.

 

You are not a slave.

 

 

James Cathcart