Freedom Through Truth

"Then Jesus said to those Jews which believed on Him, If ye continue in My word, then are ye my disciples indeed;

 And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."

They answered Him, We be Abraham's seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest Thou, Ye shall be made free?

Jesus answered them, Verily, Verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin.

And the servant abideth not in the house for ever: but the Son abideth ever.

If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed."

John 8:31-36

This passage is often quoted, but I had not really pondered it until recently. As Jesus said, the Truth (God's Word) does make us free from sin, but often we seem to be defeated by the very sin we were supposed to be set free from. Positionally we are free: we have God's divine empowering to say no to sin, but practically, we tend to live like sin is still our master.

This passage made me realize that it's not just a matter of doing better (although we do need to obey the Spirit's promptings), but actually choosing to believe God's Word over Satan's lies.

When I don't feel free, there's always a lie somewhere in my thinking.

It might be the lie of "it's not that big a deal..." or, "Only a little won't hurt anything" or, "I just can't help myself..." or any number of lies Satan might use to get us off course, but freedom only comes when we believe the truth of God's Word and choose to reject the lies of Satan.

So when you don't feel free, recognize that there's a lie somewhere, and go digging for the Truth instead!