John 8:31-32—”Jesus said to the people who believed in him, “You are truly my disciples if you remain faithful to my teachings. And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
In this scripture, Jesus told the Pharisees and Jews who came to trick Him with their questions that ‘the truth shall make you free’.
Jesus explained how this would happen – ‘If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.’
Now if someone tells you that you are free, when neither are you tied up or a slave, you may definitely question this. So the Jews asked Jesus their doubt – they had never been in bondage to anyone and in fact were Abraham’s descendants (with the promises and backing of Abraham’s God) so how could they be made free?
Listen to Jesus’ response that pertains to you and me – ‘whoever commits sin is a slave of sin.’ Since in the flesh we are attracted to sin, this truth holds good for all. Jesus further compared the relationship of a slave(sinner) and a son(God’s child/believer). If we choose sin, we will have a dead-end life and are a slave to sin. A slave cannot abide with God in His house forever but has a transient life like a guest; they cannot come and go from the house as they please. But as a believer, who lives by the Word of God, we will abide in Jesus the truth and Jesus will set us free from sin (by helping us overcome our sin). And when Jesus makes us free, we will indeed be set free. We need to stick to practising the Word to experience the truth which will make us free from sin. By practising the Word we become disciples of Jesus; where Jesus is our teacher and we the learner of the Word.Jesus showed them that they persisted to repeat the works of their earthly fathers.
A disciple is a student. We are constantly learning and growing as a disciple of Jesus. We must put into practice the knowledge we learn through our studies in the Bible and remain faithful. As we delve deeper, the truth of Jesus Christ will be revealed to us and in this truth we will gain freedom from sin. As sinners we are slaves to sin, but if we are dedicated disciples we can choose to overcome this slavery. Let’s consciously choose to overcome this slavery to sin from today!
