April 16, 2018 – John 8
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." John 8:31-32
Real Christians are
those who obey Jesus' words---and by doing so discover His Truth.
There’s an old saying:
those who Can, Do … and those who Can’t, Teach. That may or may not be true (it depends on
the teacher), but one things is for certain:
Those who Do, Know! By doing
something, you know it far better than simply by being informed. Truth
is not discovered by hearing information, but by learning it through
application.
Jesus wasn’t looking for people who wanted to know about His
ways. Jesus was looking for people who
wanted to follow & obey His ways.
That’s not because Jesus wanted to be in charge. It’s because Jesus wanted people to really
KNOW the Truth. And you can’t truly know
something’s true without doing it, obeying it, experiencing it. Truth must be experienced to be fully known.
That’s why Jesus also said: “If you love me, you will obey
my commands.” People who want to know
are those who follow the teacher’s instructions. Obedience isn’t about making God happy with
us, it’s about knowing Him and learning His ways. And Jesus promises that when we obey, we’ll
not only know the Truth, but it will free us from all the baggage of sin and
disappointment. No longer will we wonder
about other options to God’s commands, we will KNOW His way, and develop the
memory muscle to do it that way.
So it begs the question: what are we avoiding in our
obedience? Is there something we have
been taught from God that we haven’t tried yet?
Is there something God says is sin in the Bible that we haven’t given up
yet? What disobedience are we still
holding on to? Make a 90 day experiment
– obey what God says to do (or to believe), and watch what happens. You may just discover what Jesus is talking
about here – by holding to His teaching, you’ll discover its Truth, and find
great freedom!
I’m thinking of changing that old saying to something a bit
different: Those who Do, Know … and
those who Know, are Free! Sounds a
little like Truth.
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