“So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
– John 8:31-32
Freedom! Perhaps no word evokes more positive emotion in the typical person than the word “freedom”. But, are we truly free? Free from what? Free to what? In a tense and terse public debate with moral and spiritual people, Jesus offended them by saying they were internally slaves to sin (or addicts in more current language) even though they were externally free.
According to Jesus, true freedom is being free from something to Someone. Experiencing true freedom requires four steps:
- Receive – the first step toward freedom begins when you “believed in him”. Have you believed in Jesus Christ?
- Read – the second step toward freedom is learning to “abide in my word”. How is your Bible reading going?
- Relate – the third step toward freedom is an ongoing relationship with Jesus where He says you are one of “my disciples”. How is your relationship with Jesus going?
- Reality – the fourth step toward freedom is learning to “know the truth” by dealing with reality in life. How is your response to life going, and are you dealing with reality or wrongly ignoring it or denying it?
What freedom has God brought into your life already? What freedom do you still need to walk in right now? Who or what is controlling you, harming you, or keeping you from walking in the freedom God has for you?