Image from angusday.org
Then Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, "If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free." They answered him, "We are descendants of Abraham and have never been slaves to anyone. What do you mean by saying, "You will be made free'?" Jesus answered them, "Very truly, I tell you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not have a permanent place in the household; the son has a place there forever. So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed. (John 8: 31-36)
I have been blessed with an event that has happened in one of my small churches, and perhaps is being repeated in all of them; I pray it is! A new family, after many invitations to come and worship, finally came. It was an immediate blessing to the young members of that family, three boys and their little sister. They fell in love with what God offered in worship, and they grew excited about other experiences the church offered during the week. They came to love the pastor and to serve as her acolytes every Sunday. The one of the brothers that does not acolyte on a particular Sunday reads the Scripture. The little sister loves being there though she is still too young to participate herself. In a very real way, these four have come to know freedom in the Lord. They're hearing about God's love. They are hearing of what Jesus has done for them, and I'm praying that soon, if they haven't already done it, they accept the personal freedom that comes in surrendering their lives to Jesus Christ.
The passage today has Jesus talking to Jews who believed in Him; Jesus offers them an even better relationship in their coming to know the truth in Him. "You will know the truth, and the truth will make you free." They countered they had never been slaves due to their lineage (As the cartoon above illustrates they conveniently forgot about those years in Egypt as, what was it? Oh yes, slaves!) Jesus answers they were slaves to sin, and He, as the Son of God, was offering true freedom to them, yes, even freedom to sin. Sin has a way of repeating itself in us if we don't surrender ourselves and our sins to Christ. If we suffer from an addiction, we can easily make excuses for why we need to continue feeding that addiction; Christ has come to free us from that addiction and that sin. To be truly free, we must be free from our sins, and we can't do it alone, for that we have the power and peace of Jesus Christ.
Dear Friend, whatever has you enslaved does not have to continue to hold you; Jesus offers to make YOU free. All you have to do is ask...
PRAYER: Loving God, I confess that I sometimes hide my sins too well, or so I think; I ask that You, Lord Jesus, come and remove those sins from me. I want to know that truth that You alone offer so that I might not be a slave to sin any longer. This I ask in His name, Jesus Christ, my Lord and Savior, amen.
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord!
Eradio Valverde
