Jun
24
Written by:
tim
6/24/2009 12:22 PM
To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."
They answered him. "We are Abraham's descendants and have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free?"
Jesus replied, "I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed."
-- John 8:31-36--
Reflecting upon the above passage leaves me with two very distinct thoughts. First it stirs up within me the desire for freedom. Second it dares me to search out my own life and identify the lies I have believed (and perhaps still believe) about myself so that I may learn the truth and experience true freedom.
I am not a fan of "navel gazing" (obsessing over yourself) because I don't believe that it is a healthy response to the love, grace and mercy of Jesus. The view of "me" that I desire to have is from Jesus' point of view; covered by his blood and no longer under condemnation. If you have your Bible near I am referring to passages like Psalm 139:13-16, Romans 8, Ephesians 2, Philippians 1:3-6, 1John3:1-3 and the like. The trouble is that while this view is completely Biblical and totally true I can be so focused on my position in Christ that I neglect proper tending to blind spots and inconsistencies in my character or possibly my behavior.
The response of the Jews to Jesus teaching that they can be free when they embrace the truth is indicative of where their hearts are at. Basically they say, "There's nothing wrong with us, we're doing just fine!" So often when we receive teaching we respond like they did. We can think of other people that need to be set free but we're doing just fine on our own. Perhaps we are even becoming slaves to sin without totally realizing it; our hands are being bound, our ankles shackled, our wills broken and our eyes lowered all because we fail to look into the mirror of truth.
Jesus loved sinners, prostitutes and anyone who fell under the broader category of "unlovable". He still does the same thing today! His love knows no limits in terms of forgiveness and grace but in order for us to fully appreciate and enjoy that love we must recognize our condition. I'm not just referring to "giving your heart to Jesus" here but also "...work out your salvation with fear and trembling..." (Philippians 2:12b) Jesus is asking us to hold to his teaching to demonstrate that we really are his disciples. That includes taking the time to accurately assess the condition of our hearts and minds.
I suppose that all this really just adds up to a bit of common sense. It also seems that common sense is sometimes a little tough to swallow and there really isn't a spoon full of sugar to help the medicine go down save the fact that with every ugly revelation comes with it the magnificent transforming love of Jesus.
What stops you from seeking the truth about you?
Take some time now and invite the Lord to reveal to you what you need to hear.
Walk in complete victory!
Remember I'm pullin for you!
Tim
1 comment(s) so far...
office2010
Sometimes Office 2010, in Windows Vista using Office2007/2003 to Microsoft Office open the Microsoft Office 2010 original article written by a lot of fonts Office 2007 can not display properly: the italics and somehow Microsoft Office 2010 Professional change the text in italics, the article spacing increases, and the layout is also an error Acrobat 9, originally shown on this page change to the next page Microsoft Office 2007 of text for no reason, how Microsoft Project Professional 2010 is this going on. Tips 1: Use a good Document Map If the long title of the document built, the Microsoft Office 2010 Home & Student directory structure of the Adobe reader style, you can in the use of "Document Map" feature for fast browsing and jump, but the default settings of the feature has not Office 2007 Professional been enabled Microsoft Project 2010, you can "View → Document Microsoft Visio Professional 2010 Structure map "sub-menu, select" Left "or" keep right "display the document structure diagram. This Microsoft Office 2010 Home & Business is to select "Left" in effect Office 2007 Ultimate, need to see a long document, the contents of a chapter, directly select the chart in the document Microsoft Visio 2010, and then the right side of the window will automatically display Microsoft Office 2007 Home and Student relevant content, the default will show all levels, if you are feel that this is Adobe Acrobat too messy, you can click the Project 2010 "Show Level" button from the drop-down menu, select the need to show the level, and then immediately enter into force, can Visio 2010 be said to be very convenient Adobe Acrobat 9 Professional.
By office2010 on
4/27/2011 5:33 PM
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