Devotional:Desire to Be Free:John 8:31-36

This week I have been watching on television programs about freedom. February is Black History Month and one program is about the role of Blacks in the American colonies that helped to inspire freedom and their participation in the life of the colonies (white people). Another program is about the Black Church and its role in the civil rights movement, a movement in which Black people sought to be free from the limitations that white America imposes upon them; often by legal means. A third program was about the role of the King James Version of the bible for the founding fathers because they found in the bible reasons to go to war with England so that they could form a self governing society.

Now, what I find interesting is that both the white founding fathers and Black church leaders share in common the use of the bible to have reason to use the methods that they did as they fought from their freedom. The sermons preached in the white churches and the Black church motivated the people to fight to be free. After looking at these programs, I realized that the desire to be free is something that God has put into the heart and mind of every person. Yet, all of us know that we must fight to be free.

Jesus explained this phenomenon in his teaching. He said if you hold to my teaching you will be free. The religious leaders were offended because they said that they were children of Abraham and they had never been slaves. Jesus told them that they were slaves because they were slaves of sin and the devil (v. 44). Jesus was saying that the road to freedom is to obey His teaching.

Sin makes us all slaves, and our bondage is made manifest in many ways. The desire to be free from life situations has caused people to look for freedom in drugs, alcohol, and various addictive behaviors. These methods do not set us free because they are the results of sin. Only when we are free of sin will we be free. When we are free from sin we are free from the desires of the flesh to include greed, hate, envy, murder, lies, etc. (Gal. 5:19-21). We are free to live within the boundaries that God set for us at creation. We are free to live by the Spirit. Jesus was teaching the people that through him they could come to be free.

Prayer: Lord God we are thankful for the freedom that we have in Jesus Christ. Amen.