John 8:31-59 Made Me Think Of A Movie I Just Saw

Jesus said, “If you continue to obey My teaching, you are truly My followers.  Then you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.”

They didn’t like what He was implying:  that they were slaves to something or to someone.  In fact, they denied that the Israelites had ever been slaves, even though their country was occupied by the Roman army as they were speaking!  But Jesus had other, more important, slavery in mind.  “Everyone who lives in sin is a slave to sin.”  The literal translation is, “Whosoever keeps on practicing sin is a slave to sin.”

I was reminded of a scene from the new movie Jack Ryan:  Shadow Recruit where Jack is in military rehab learning to walk again following a helicopter crash.  Having just fallen again during rehab, he makes a deal with his doctor that he will get back up and finish if she will get him two pain pills.  She gets them (he starts trying to walk again, too), but she asks him to wait 2 minutes before taking them.  “Why?” he asks.  “To prove to yourself that you can.”  She didn’t want him to become enslaved to the pain pills.

Those who don’t truly know God and accept His teachings and His Son’s sacrifice for their sins cannot see their own enslavement.  My commentary said, “The worst bondage is the kind that the prisoner himself does not recognize.  He thinks he is free, yet he is really a slave.  The Pharisees and other religious leaders thought that they were free, but they were actually enslaved in terrible spiritual bondage to sin and to Satan.  They would not face the truth, and yet it was the truth alone that could set them free.

Father, I have to admit that the title for this section in my Bible – “Freedom From Sin” – sure catches my attention.  Who wouldn’t want to be forever free from the effects of sin and the temptations to sin?  How wonderful to live with no regrets, no shame, no feelings of hypocrisy, and no sadness over disappointing the One who loves us so?  I know that this side of heaven my flesh will fail me, but I don’t have to practice sin, for Your Spirit is inside me, helping me to say no and to live victoriously.  Thank You for always offering me a way out.  Help me not to be too stupid to take it.

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford