John 8:31-35 English Standard Version

The Truth Will Set You Free

³¹ So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, ³² and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” ³³ They answered him, “We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say, ‘You will become free’?”

³⁴ Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin. ³⁵ The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever.

A recent study asked us to answer this question for ourselves: Who is Jesus to you?

When we first accept Jesus into our hearts by faith it is possible that the answer to that question was not on our minds. We seek God’s help for different reasons. Why we feel the need to be saved is really not the point here. It is more about our expectations of salvation and what happens next.

We might find the peace of God at first. Restless hearts might find rest first. Loneliness might find a true friend. A rebel might find a victorious warrior to follow.

In the end we all discover the abiding presence of the Son is willing to reveal Himself in truth as only Jesus can do. As disciples we will grow in Christ and discover we need another aspect of this living God who is “all in all”.

Only God can be everything to everyone and still remain personal to each one of us.

There is no perfect answer to who is Jesus without recognizing His abiding presence.

His warning about being a slave to sin was directed at those Jews that faced Him in that moment because He had not yet been betrayed and put to death.

His death was the game changer.

1 Corinthians 12:7 English Standard Version (ESV) To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.

Some sound advice came to me some time ago from another devotional writer.

The use of the word I sounds like pride and the use of the word you sounds accusatorial.

Using words like us and our rings of a common experience and does not make the hearer feel alone or patronized. We do not have to sound like we are being judgmental in saying we have had the same experience.

Neither should we expect others to experience the same miracle healing we had. God’s will is a work in each of us and we must take into consideration the feelings of others in how we share God’s sovereign power. His will may be different for others.

Why this is true has everything to do with what God knows is best for each of us. While we might all have gotten caught up in the same experience our exit strategies may not be the same. That is personal for each of us and to tell someone that they “should do it this way” will be condemning if it doesn’t work for that individual.

One area that is easy to offend another is in expecting others to hear God in the same way. There have been many instances of weakening another’s faith in comparing our lives to theirs.

2 Corinthians 10:12 English Standard Version (ESV) Not that we dare to classify or compare ourselves with some of those who are commending themselves. But when they measure themselves by one another and compare themselves with one another, they are without understanding.

Paul’s advice here is to believers and is not asking us to compare ourselves with unbelievers because we do not share this common bond in the Holy Spirit.

Commending themselves sounds a little like “I have done…”