Most Christians are familiar with the phrase, “You shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free.” This statement is true. We know it is because it’s God’s holy written word. Then why are so many Christians living in obvious bondage to sin? The problem is, we don’t actually know the truth, we just know some things about it.
Let’s look at that scripture in context.
John 8:31-32 Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. 32 And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”
The problem here is obvious. Those who struggle with sin do not abide in God’s written word. To abide means to remain constantly, to dwell continually. We are to live our Christian lives with constant exposure to, and intake of the word of God. If we do not, according to the above scripture, we are not even considered a disciple. We definitely won’t be free.
I have observed animals raised in captivity all their lives. When the chains are removed and their locked cages are opened, they freeze. Instead of stepping out, they choose not to leave the confines of their captivity. Freedom is strange and unfamiliar to them, so they return to the chains and the cage that binds them. They find comfort in the familiarity of prison.
Most Christians do not understand the value or importance of reading and listening to the word for themselves. They attend church faithfully. They read many books and listen to many teachings about the Bible. They watch Christian television and listen to Christian radio. However, they only read a chapter or two of the Bible for themselves daily, if that.
If you spend only fifteen to thirty minutes a day in the Bible, you will not grow much spiritually. You will remain a baby Christian all your life.
Other passages in the Bible tell us to keep the word before our eyes, meditate on it day and night, keep it in our mouths, attend unto God’s word, and keep it in the midst of our hearts.
Joshua 1:8 This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.
Proverbs 4:20-22 My son, give attention to my words; Incline your ear to my sayings. 21 Do not let them depart from your eyes; Keep them in the midst of your heart; 22 For they are life to those who find them, And health to all their flesh.
It is the supernatural power in God’s word that sets us free. God’s word is alive! It imparts grace and truth to us in ways that we can’t begin to understand. Truth is the one unchangeable constant in the universe. It is the only thing in existence that has the power to set us free and keep us free.
Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
God’s word is a sharp, surgical instrument that can operate on our soul and spirit, separating and removing anything that would keep us bound. Some surgeries take longer than others, but if we abide in God’s word, staying under the knife so to speak, we will soon be free of the things that keep us bound.
Do you really love Him?
In our minds, I think we all do. But what does Jesus have to say about it?
John 14:15 If you love Me, keep My commandments.
That seems pretty straightforward, doesn’t it?
John 14:21-24 He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.”
22 Judas (not Iscariot) said to Him, “Lord, how is it that You will manifest Yourself to us, and not to the world?”
23 Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him. 24 He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine but the Father’s who sent Me.
Loving God’s word, and keeping God’s word is how we express love for God. If we do not love God’s word enough to read it for ourselves and stay in it continually, then we cannot claim to love God according to scripture.
James 1:21-25 Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.
22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; 24 for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. 25 But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.
In verse 21 we see the word “implanted.” Some translations read “engrafted.”
What does implanted, or engrafted mean? The Greek word is “emphutos” pronounced “em’-foo-tos” and this word is only used once in the New Testament. If you are familiar with a surgical implant, a skin graft, or a tree with a grafted branch, then you have an idea of what implanted means.
An implant takes living tissue and grafts it into another living tissue to make both one. If grafted properly, the thing being grafted becomes a living part of the thing it is grafted into.
Spiritually speaking, the living word of God is fastened, or grafted into our spirit until the living word becomes a part of us and we become one.
To receive the implanted word, we must be doers of the word. If we are not a doer of the word, we have not received it, we have only heard it.
The self-deception that James is talking about in the above verse is hearing the word and thinking we know it. We don’t know it until we practice what we have heard. We don’t fully understand it either. Yet we move forward thinking we have learned something when we have not.
Abiding in God’s word gives us the strength, faith, and courage needed to obey His word.
Hunger for the Word like a Baby
1 Peter 2:1-3 Therefore, laying aside all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking, 2 as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby, 3 if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious.
Even though abiding in God’s word will cause us to grow into maturity in Christ, we should always maintain a spiritual hunger for the word like a newborn child.
I have raised three children, and without fail, every one of them demanded to be fed eight to twelve times a day when they were newborns. It didn’t matter if it was the middle of the night, they would wake up crying for a meal.
When was the last time you woke up in the middle of the night and just had to read God’s word, had to hear it, had to taste it? How many times a day do you visit the scriptures?
Spiritual hunger, unlike physical hunger, is stimulated by eating, not starving.
The number one discipline Christians should establish in their lives is abiding in God’s word.
There is a reason God spent over 1500 years on this work. He used 40 different people who spoke 3 different languages to put together this wonderful, recorded, historical, and anointed document called the Bible. It is our blueprint, our manual for life, our spiritual food. God has made His thoughts, feelings, instructions, and ideas readily available. He shares them with the children He so dearly loves. Let’s not take that for granted.
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