John 8:36

So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed ~ John 8:36

 

When the word “serve” or “servant” come to most people’s minds, they think of someone who is bound to another against their will. Some of us are enslaved to the things of this world, whether that is to drugs, or alcohol, or to violence. Some are slaves to their work, or their pocketbook and bank account. Some of those enslavements are by choice, but others by improper need. The servanthood thereby becomes a chain which binds that one to that activity, and joy, peace, and hope are lost. In Christ, however, service is an experience of freedom. There are two reasons for this: one is that He grants to us a new and liberating knowledge. “If you abide in My word…you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” Second is that He can permanently reconcile us to our environment. He does this by bringing the truth into our heart. Revelation brings new claims upon us, and new responsibilities, but instead of these being new obligations, we find they are in fact already existing realities. Without Christ how do we answer the questions of what is life, or my meaning, and what is death? What is sin? What am I? Where are those I have loved and lost? I am in bondage until I can answer those questions. How can we have peace and liberty when we are lost in doubtful circumstances? I was talking to a gentleman in our area yesterday, and he was or had been a believer, but he was lost in his circumstances. He felt God was to blame, and so he was a prisoner in his aloneness and his sense of loss. Yet the one thing he had had, the Lord God, he had abandoned, leaving his soul, his life, bereft of hope. In these times it is only Christ who can respond, yet Christ was left behind, and this man turned inward instead of upward. Freedom, even from his pain, freedom from your pain, is not found by looking within and at what was, but by looking toward the Son to seek new direction and meaning for life. God awaits this mans return, just as He waits for your return. If you want freedom, come to the One who will set you free! Give it all to Him!

Pastor Julia

image: Fa Barboza


Comments

Post a Comment

Thank you for your comments

Popular posts from this blog

Romans 8:26

Image
In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans ~ Romans 8:26 Many days, many times, I have the words for prayer. It comes forth and flows fairly naturally as I converse with my Lord God. I hope in the God I worship to hear me, and to receive my words, as I pray in the name of Jesus and believe in Him, my intercessor. He is my Living Saviour, my High Priest, standing at the right hand of God the Father. But there are times when my pain has been so deep that my words will not come. There are times when my agony is so piercing that what words I may speak would not be enough. And so, in my deep, black moments, I come before my God and let my darkest emotions erupt in sounds that only He can understand. The Holy Spirit within me cries out in my stead, and He becomes my second intercessor. It is not that He is not there with me in all my prayers, but there are times wh...
Read more

Proverbs 18:2

Image
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in sharing their own opinions ~ Proverbs 18:2 If we are going to understand something, we must fully digest it so that when we speak, we speak with wisdom. When we have only half truths in our mind, our words become empty and senseless. We then puff out air rather than understanding when we speak. A wise person will want to improve their mind through learning in various ways from the world around them. A person who delights in spiritual understanding will find peace and enjoyment in reading the Word of God on a daily basis, and in participating with God’s people in a learning and praising environment – the church! We come together in corporate worship with the understanding that not one of us knows all things, but we bend our mind and heart to learn what God has to show and say to us. A foolish person makes a show of what they “know” to please their friends or to save face in front of them. More often a wise person will hold t...
Read more

Isaiah 43:19

Image
Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert ~ Isaiah 43:19 When we meet a challenge, we are often found discouraged, lost, even hopeless. Nothing is working, everything seems to be against us. We do not know how to move forward, so we remain curled up in a ball. Then, a glimmer of light shines through! Hope is regained and movement is stirred within. Don’t we become excited when we begin to feel it? God moves like that. We cannot see our way around it, but He can and does. And He makes a way for us out of the calamity of our fears. It is the feeling of springtime after a long winter, or the smell of fresh cut grass. Life stirs within and we move and we see what God saw all the time – the answer to our dilemma. Our desert place becomes an oasis, and we can do what we are called to do. Something totally unexpected happens, something unheard of, but it begins in our life, and we feel the...
Read more