The Truth Will Set You Free
True slavery isn't always recognizable, particularly when I am my own prisoner.
“Everyone who sins,” Jesus warns, “is a slave to sin.” The brutal taskmaster ripping open my flesh with the crack of a whip isn’t a thick-necked thug with bulging biceps but an enjoyable pleasure of my sinful flesh tearing my life apart but I refuse to admit it and just can’t say no. The shackles clinging to my neck and clanging between my feet are not metallic irons but materialistic inclinations – “gotta have it” links of designer fashions and décor furniture that remind me and everybody else I’m a somebody. The daily chores of tasks and responsibilities aren’t for nothing but are rewarded with a paycheck or praiseworthy grade or pat on the back so that I figure out the more tasks and responsibilities I take on the more paycheck, praises or pats I get in return – all the while wrecking my health and ruining relationships but not recognizing it. Who has time to be depressed about sinful failures and guilty regrets when so many diversions can free us?
And therein lies the devil’s trap. These diversions don’t actually free us. They enslave us to their service. They can be, of themselves, good things. That’s why the devil uses them for bait and hooks us, laughing as he rips us away from the net of God’s kingdom and reels us into the torment of hell. Even worse, we often don’t kick and scream and put up a fight but learn to enjoy the devil’s ride because it makes life so easy, and the scenery is just fantastic, and everybody else is going the same way. That’s true slavery. Self-deception at its finest. It could really be going to hell and not even knowing it.
Rescue from self-deceptional slavery is not, therefore, going to be in self, otherwise what I think is freedom could really be enslaving me. Rescue from self-deceptional slavery is not, either, going to be found in a religion that turns me to myself to put into action the commanded practices, the proper ceremonies, and the right obedience before some deity will smile upon me. Rescue, fellow slaves, has to come from the outside! That’s why Jesus says, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” You are set free from your sins, from their control of your body and mind, and from their curse of hell hereafter, by the truth of Jesus. You are disciples of Jesus following him through a life of freedom because by faith you hold on to his teachings. There’s no possibility for self-deception here because Jesus’ teachings are not some mystical discover you make while meditating on your karma; Jesus’ teachings are not some hidden code unlocked by a team of specially trained scientists; Jesus’ teachings are not individually edited belief systems concocted by some hermit followers isolated from the real world. Jesus’ teachings have been “revealed and made known through the prophetic writings by the command of the eternal God, so that all nations might believe” (Romans 16:26).
What is our great heritage? Something that has nothing to do with our DNA, but it comes from the outside, from heaven. God’s Word. It is holy. It is miraculous. Its message of salvation rescues us from our self-deception. It is the absolute truth. Hold onto it, and know that the truth of Jesus will set you free.
PRAYER: Dear Jesus, Teacher of my soul, in the confusion of all the information of the world and attractions of my eyes I have lost the certainty you promise. Thank you for not losing me. Thank you for patiently teaching me even through my weakness. Thank you for letting me rediscover the answers and for encouraging my faith with your promises. Amen.