True Liberty
If the slave plainly says, "I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out as a free man," ... his master shall pierce his ear with an awl; and he shall serve him permanently.
— Exodus 21:5-6
A Hebrew, in payment of debt, could be sold into bondage for a period not to exceed six years. Then he was given his freedom without obligation or restriction. However, if his master had provided him with a wife who bore him children, they could not go free with him. Consequently, he had to make a choice between his family and his freedom.
No one would consciously choose to be a slave! However, we are either slaves to sin or slaves to righteousness, and so our choice is not if we will be slaves, but to whom!
Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness? But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed, and having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. ... But now, having been freed from sin and enslaved to God, you derive your benefit, resulting in sanctification, and the outcome, eternal life.
- Romans 6:16-18, 22