Anchor My Faith

Are You Free?

Scripture: John 8:30-32

In the previous section the focus was on a discussion with the Jews in authority, but as Jesus spoke to them, the people in the crowd were listening and forming an opinion about who he was. In this section Jesus continues his teaching.

^{Jn 8:30} “As [Jesus] was saying these things, many believed in him. ³¹ So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, ³² and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”’

At first glance it seems that many were accepting what Jesus was saying and believed him but was their faith real or just a passing feeling. The next statement from Jesus would determine that.

He begins with a condition: “If you abide in my word.” To abide in his word means to continue to believe what Jesus has said and to express that belief in a growing obedience to him. It is a daily, personal relationship with Jesus, characterized by trust, study, prayer, and obedience. Are we “diligent to present [ourselves] approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15 NASB). And as we study do we keep his commandments as an expression of our love for him (John 14:21)?

With our sinful natures, we must choose to study and then to obey. However, I am discovering as I walk with Jesus each day writing these bible lessons, that Jesus doesn’t seem to struggle with obedience. It is becoming clearer and clearer to me that his life is an expression of living out these commands. I am beginning to observe this in my own life and am beginning to realize that this is an important aspect of the word being alive in me. As the word of God is assimilated into our life it becomes like software to a computer; it provides rules of operation. As the word of God becomes alive in our life, it becomes the determining factor in how we live. Jesus was the Word and lived by it. More and more we are to become like the Word as we assimilate the word of God into our lives and as we do it will determine how we live. It simply becomes a way of life. Our lives in heaven will be lived completely by the word of God. We will not be able to live any differently because we will live free of sin as Jesus was while on earth.

Those who abide in his word and assimilate it into their lives to live under its control are truly his disciples. Those who do will know the truth and will be set free by it. Without the assimilation of the word of God into our lives, we have the burden of making proper decisions, but with it the word makes the decisions for us, setting us free. If our lives were 100% under the control of the word of God, we would be sinless like Jesus was. That is what our lives in heaven will be like.

Being set free because of abiding in his word will surely be challenged, especially by the Jews in authority. We will pickup on this in verse 33 in the next lesson.

Conclusion

It seems that in the western church we learn small portions of the bible as knowledge and have little understanding or desire of how to assimilate it into our lives so that it controls how we live. I believe we are afraid to yield control to the word of God, even though it would set us free and provide such a great measure of joy and peace.