Jesus said to those Jews who believed in him, “If you remain in my word, you will truly be my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” They answered him, “We are descendants of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How can you say, ‘You will become free’?” Jesus answered them, “Amen, amen, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin. A slave does not remain in a household forever, but a son always remains. So if the Son frees you, then you will truly be free. I know that you are descendants of Abraham. But you are trying to kill me, because my word has no room among you. I tell you what I have seen in the Father’s presence; then do what you have heard from the Father.”
“The truth will set you free.” What does it mean to be free? Is freedom the ability to do whatever you want, whenever you want? How can sin be slavery if sin is always a free choice? When Jesus talks about the slavery of sin, is He just talking about major sins or just everybody else’s sins? The fact is that sin ALWAYS leads to slavery. We often commit sin thinking that it is just a one-time deal that we can just choose to commit once and then go on with our day. Think of one habitual sin that you regularly commit. Why do you keep choosing this sin over and over? Why haven’t you stopped already? Jesus offers us freedom, but we have to choose to be free.
CHALLENGE: Take a minute and think of one sin that you regularly commit; think of one that you keep coming back to over and over. Do you really want to be free? Ask God to bring you FREEDOM in that area of your life. Take a minute to imagine what it would be like to live in freedom without that sin. Ask God for the grace to be free from attachment to that sin. Thank God for coming to make us free.
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