
THE Hebrew slave who meant perpetual consecration of service had to lose a  little blood. It was a disagreeable and not wholly painless process, by which  his vows were ratified and rendered permanent. But not otherwise could he serve  forever. That awl represents the nail that affixed Christ to the cross, and we  must expect it in every true act of consecration. For want of it so many seem to  go through that supreme act, and shortly after go back from it, bringing  discredit and shame upon the teaching they had eagerly welcomed. There are two  stages in the Christian life: that in which we serve with the spirit of a slave,  and that in which we freely yield ourselves to serve our Master forever. This is  the service represented by the pierced ear.
The awl spiritually means the  humiliation and pain with which we surrender the self-life. We are tempted to  consecrate ourselves in our own energy; to resolve on the devout life in the  strength of our own resolution; to say, "I will serve Christ utterly." We avoid  the awl which deprives us of our own energy, which is applied to us by the hand  of another, and which makes us helpless and self-emptied, that God may become  all in all. In your case the awl may be the daily fret of some uncongenial  associate; the pressure of loss and anxiety for the sake of Jesus; the  humiliation of your pride by perpetual sense of failure. Whatever it be, welcome  all that binds you to His cross, because through death you live.
"I  beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your  bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable  service."