May 3 - Be Free!

May 3 – Be Free!

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. I know that you are descendants of Abraham; yet you look for an opportunity to kill me, because there is no place in you for my word. I declare what I have seen in the Father’s presence; as for you, you should do what you have heard from the Father.”

They answered him, “Abraham is our father.” Jesus said to them, “If you were Abraham’s children, you would be doing what Abraham did, but now you are trying to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. This is not what Abraham did. You are indeed doing what your father does.” They said to him, “We are not illegitimate children; we have one father, God himself.” (John 8:31-41)

Freedom.  It’s one of those words that gets bandied about.  We want it, we don’t seem to get enough of it. We don’t handle it well.  Some think that freedom leads to anarchy. We don’t understand what true freedom really is.

Jesus said, “If the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.”

These Jews that were speaking to Him in this passage didn’t understand what He was speaking about.  Interestingly enough, they informed Him that as sons of Abraham, they had never known slavery … they had always been free.  They conveniently ignored the years of slavery before Moses brought them out of Egypt and the years in bondage under Nebuchadnezzar!

Jesus, however, was talking about their slavery to sin.  Only He could release them from that bondage.  They couldn’t do it on their own.

It isn’t so hard to imagine, is it?  You and I both know that sin in our lives stops us from true freedom.  We are so focused on ignoring it or hiding it or justifying it or hoping that no one notices our sins, we can’t do the things that Jesus calls us to do!  Sin enslaves us.  It makes us fearful and it causes us to be angry and hateful. It enslaves us.

God doesn’t want us to live like that.  He wants us to live as whole human beings, able to love and enjoy His creation and a relationship with Him.  Jesus offers us that freedom. All we have to do is believe Him.