Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. “And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” (John 8:31, 32, NKJV).
Freedom.
Lots of popular ideas about what freedom is and isn't. Most of them are wrong. Well, maybe not entirely, but mostly wrong.
There are also lots of ideas about what makes someone free and what doesn't. I am really surprised at some of these. Lately, I hear a lot of blather about bigger, more intrusive government making us free. I guess the idea is that the more rules and regulations there are the more everyone's freedoms are guaranteed. That's just plain silly. More laws may make for more security, but security is not freedom. I also hear a lot about less rules and regulations making us more free, and at least that makes some kind of logical sense. But taken to the extreme, anarchy is not freedom either.
If you think about it for half a second, freedom is as much about having the choice not to to something, as it is about choosing to do something.
In any event, one thing that most thinking people will agree upon is that enslavement of any kind is not freedom.
Make no mistake about it, we are all born slaves; every belly-aching one of us. And this slavery goes much deeper than you might think. It resides at the very essence of our existence. It is our inevitable human inheritance.
I don't care how rich, or privileged, or beautiful, or powerful you are. I don't care how much you love or hate yourself, or your life. Unless you know the truth you're imprisoned.
And the most effective, maximum security prison has this sign above the steel-barred door: "Relativism. All Who Enter Here are Doomed"
The poor miserable inmates of this facility live out their entire pitiful lives in dank, dreary hopelessness. They are moral pretzels, trying to maintain comfort and safety by contorting themselves into mutually exclusive ideas and philosophies, being twisted and pulled every which way by the fickle pressures of political correctness, situational ethics, and personal expediency. At the end of their lusterless existence, they blow about like weightless husks, twisting in the wind, wondering why nothing ever really makes sense, and crushed under inconsolable regrets about what could have been.
There is an escape. There is a way out of your misery, or addiction, or insecurity, or pain or loneliness. There is a way for your life to have purpose and meaning. It is truth; absolute truth. Furthermore, a profound and universe-shattering means has been provided for you to become intimately acquainted with that truth.
"What is truth?" you might ask. Lots of famous people have. Or you could voice this thought, "What is true for you may not be true for me." If you do though, say it quietly so you don't advertise how unthinking you are, because if something is true for me, and not true for you, then it is simply not true. Don't confuse truth with preference. Otherwise you'll come across as an idiot.
Jesus, who is God, came to light the world with truth. He is the way, the truth and the life. He died an excruciating death, and then rose from the dead to prove that what He declared was true. His coming to suffer and die in your place was so that you could be made free, but you need to believe what He said in order to walk out that prison door. The alternative is to lean on your own understanding. How's that working out for you? What about 80 years from now?
Abiding in Jesus' word is more than just agreeing with what He said. It is living it. Trusting in Him. Being like Him. The equation is brilliantly simple: abide in His word and you will follow Him. Follow Him and you will know the truth. Knowing the truth is the ONLY escape from the slavery of your life without God. No gray, squishy areas, just life or death.
“And if it seems evil to you to serve the LORD, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve... But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.” (Joshua 24:15, NKJV).
Freedom.
Lots of popular ideas about what freedom is and isn't. Most of them are wrong. Well, maybe not entirely, but mostly wrong.
There are also lots of ideas about what makes someone free and what doesn't. I am really surprised at some of these. Lately, I hear a lot of blather about bigger, more intrusive government making us free. I guess the idea is that the more rules and regulations there are the more everyone's freedoms are guaranteed. That's just plain silly. More laws may make for more security, but security is not freedom. I also hear a lot about less rules and regulations making us more free, and at least that makes some kind of logical sense. But taken to the extreme, anarchy is not freedom either.
If you think about it for half a second, freedom is as much about having the choice not to to something, as it is about choosing to do something.
In any event, one thing that most thinking people will agree upon is that enslavement of any kind is not freedom.
Make no mistake about it, we are all born slaves; every belly-aching one of us. And this slavery goes much deeper than you might think. It resides at the very essence of our existence. It is our inevitable human inheritance.
I don't care how rich, or privileged, or beautiful, or powerful you are. I don't care how much you love or hate yourself, or your life. Unless you know the truth you're imprisoned.
And the most effective, maximum security prison has this sign above the steel-barred door: "Relativism. All Who Enter Here are Doomed"
The poor miserable inmates of this facility live out their entire pitiful lives in dank, dreary hopelessness. They are moral pretzels, trying to maintain comfort and safety by contorting themselves into mutually exclusive ideas and philosophies, being twisted and pulled every which way by the fickle pressures of political correctness, situational ethics, and personal expediency. At the end of their lusterless existence, they blow about like weightless husks, twisting in the wind, wondering why nothing ever really makes sense, and crushed under inconsolable regrets about what could have been.
There is an escape. There is a way out of your misery, or addiction, or insecurity, or pain or loneliness. There is a way for your life to have purpose and meaning. It is truth; absolute truth. Furthermore, a profound and universe-shattering means has been provided for you to become intimately acquainted with that truth.
"What is truth?" you might ask. Lots of famous people have. Or you could voice this thought, "What is true for you may not be true for me." If you do though, say it quietly so you don't advertise how unthinking you are, because if something is true for me, and not true for you, then it is simply not true. Don't confuse truth with preference. Otherwise you'll come across as an idiot.
Jesus, who is God, came to light the world with truth. He is the way, the truth and the life. He died an excruciating death, and then rose from the dead to prove that what He declared was true. His coming to suffer and die in your place was so that you could be made free, but you need to believe what He said in order to walk out that prison door. The alternative is to lean on your own understanding. How's that working out for you? What about 80 years from now?
Abiding in Jesus' word is more than just agreeing with what He said. It is living it. Trusting in Him. Being like Him. The equation is brilliantly simple: abide in His word and you will follow Him. Follow Him and you will know the truth. Knowing the truth is the ONLY escape from the slavery of your life without God. No gray, squishy areas, just life or death.
“And if it seems evil to you to serve the LORD, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve... But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.” (Joshua 24:15, NKJV).
