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.”They answered Him, “We are Abraham’s descendants, and have never been in bondage to anyone. How can You say, ‘You will be made free’?”Jesus answered them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin. And slave does not abide in the house forever, but a son abides forever.
John 8:31-36
My attention was recently captured by this scripture from a devotional a friend had sent called, “She Is Free: Learning The Truth About The Lies That Hold You Captive.” In the first installment, the author Andi Andrew suggests that in order to truly find spiritual freedom, we must identify and face the lies that hold us captive.
So as I’m reading the above scripture, Jesus is ministering to some Jews and tells them that the truth shall set them free. These particular Jews respond with a bit of indignation, claiming that they are not in bondage. In fact, as Abraham’s descendants, they have never been in bondage. Perhaps it’s the focus of our pastor’s current sermon series on The Ten Commandments, or the fact that I’ve done a bit of studying over the last few years of the history of the Israelite people, but I was a bit flabbergasted how short their memory was of their own history.
Abraham’s descendants were in bondage to the Egyptians at the time of Moses, taken captive by the Babylonians, and even in their own time overshadowed by the Roman empire. The Jews’ very legacy was to be in bondage because of their own sinful choices and actions until the time that the Messiah would come to set them free. This very scripture proves that humans of every time and place have a tendency to be in bondage and not even realize it! Not to mention, they had no understanding of the spiritual bondage that sin held over them, which is what Jesus was specifically getting at here.
If we say we are not in bondage, which is to say we have no sin, is to deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us (paraphrase from 1 John 1:8). Jesus offers to break the shackles of bondage from sin and death, but we must do the walking away from the shackles and toward Him, which is repentance. We will not turn away from that which we do not recognize as sin, nor will we confess it as such.
Lord, open our eyes to TRUTH. Help us identify and reject the lies that hold us captive. Make us acutely aware of the bonds of sin that the world may not recognize as sin, but certainly offends You, a Holy God. Help us to repent, to take up our mats and walk out of bondage and into Your glorious freedom!