Jesus famously said, "If you abide in My word, you are truly My disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free" (John 8:31-32). Even many in the world know that "the truth will set you free" line. Oddly enough, many self-professed Christians seem to fail to see that "the truth will set you free" is part of a prior thought. "You will know the truth," Jesus had said, and that truth will set you free. What truth? Not just any truth. Not "2 + 2 = 4." It's true, of course, but that's not the truth that, knowing it, sets you free. What truth? "If you abide in My word ..." That truth. Knowing that truth includes defining where you live, where you "abide." And it includes the Word. Not the red letters of the Bible. All of it. Because, after all, Jesus Himself "was the Word" (John 1:1). So our Bibles, breathed out by God (2 Tim 3:16-17), are the expression of God and, thus, are the truth that Jesus refers to as "My word." Jesus said, "Your word is truth" (John 17:17).
It seems quite clear. It doesn't seem vague, ambiguous, or relative. If you abide in the word, it is a mark of a genuine disciple of Christ. A true disciple is an actual follower of Christ. I think when we put it that way, it's obvious. If you are to be a follower of Christ, you have to be His disciple, and if you are to be His disciple, you have to follow what He says. Not controversial at all. "If you abide in My word," He said. Notice that He did not say, "My words." It was, therefore, the sum total of what He taught, not just the things He was saying. Jesus, as the expression of God, gave us all of the Word. All of it. And the requirement is to "abide" there. It's where we live. It shapes our worldview, alters our thinking and living, defines our values, directs our choices and lifestyles, empowers our convictions. Abiding in His word means to continuously live according to His word.
It is somewhat important, then, to look at the unstated flip side. What if you do not abide in His word? What if you shape your own thoughts, define your own values, take or leave what His word says depending on your own perceptions and preferences? What if you are not able to be described as abiding in His word? That would say, then, that you do not have the truth. You know ... the truth that sets you free. Worse, that would say that you may not be His disciple. Both are terrifying places to be.
3 comments:
We certainly do hear the phrase “The truth shall set you free” claimed by many people, including in support of many selfish and ungodly behaviors or causes. This illustrates the notion that most people believe that each of us can have their own “truth” and that the various views are all worthy of respect and commitment. Some “truth” will lead to destruction, of course. (I think of the phrase, “Sincere but sincerely wrong.”) I’m so glad we have God’s truth presented to us in His Word to know and live out, so we don’t need to make it up—to our detriment—as we go along.
We have two options, be a slave to our flesh that will only lead to despair and destruction, or be a slave to Christ that will only lead to freedom from destruction.
This comment is not quite about abiding in God’s Word, but I was thinking a bit more about seeking one’s own “personal truth.” There was a time in my young adult life (before I was saved at age 20) when I actually believed that it was my obligation to examine the doctrines of all of the world religions, “Christian” cults, and “new age” movements (“TM” was very trendy about that time) and to take what I considered to be the best of each and merge them into a belief system of my very own. I actually believed that God expected this of every thinking person and that He would judge me by how successfully I created my own truth and how sincerely I then followed it. (Again, “sincere but sincerely wrong.”) I definitely did not know God or His desires! Looking back, I am aghast at my thinking and so grateful God rescued me from this foolhardy notion and any further pursuit on my part of “the wisdom of this world.”
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