My son resembles his Taiwanese heritage with straight midnight hair, tan skin, and dark eyes. So when I came across his text message chain with another kid who posted bowls of rice and other racist images, I told him what he needed to do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI don\u2019t need you to teach me,\u201d my son replied. \u201cI know what I\u2019m doing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jesus\u2019s relationship with the Jews reminds me of my son\u2019s comment, \u201cI don\u2019t need you to teach me.\u201d As we come to John 8:30, Jesus had been teaching in the temple and many Jews believed in Him because of what He said. Jesus then offered them a truth that could save them from much more than a text message bully\u2014but they didn\u2019t want Jesus\u2019s teaching. They acted like overly confident teenagers, offended by the aged wisdom of the One that they had just come to believe was the Son of God (vv.28\u201331).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jesus might have sounded like a parent while telling them, \u201cIf you continue in my word, you really are my disciples. You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free\u201d (vv.31\u201332). He told them that if the Son set them free, they would be free indeed (v.36).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But the Jews pushed back. I imagine they rolled their eyes like my son, brushing off the redirection they thought they didn\u2019t need. \u201cWe don\u2019t need your teaching. We\u2019re Abraham\u2019s descendants and don\u2019t need to be set free from slavery\u201d (paraphrase mine). They thought they were in the know\u2014but they didn\u2019t know they were slaves to sin (Romans 6:15\u201318).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The fact is, however, we need the same truth the Jews rejected. Unless we, too, hold onto, or know and follow, Jesus\u2019s teachings, we, too, can live as slaves to sin. To be a slave is to live in submission to someone or something. Now, of course we are saved by grace through faith and not by works (Ephesians 2:8\u20139), but we also learn to walk with God by practicing God\u2019s teachings. The more we obey Him instead of the pull of our sin, the more freedom we find.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I see this in my own life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When I soak my mind in God\u2019s word, I increasingly follow the pattern of the Bible\u2019s teachings. \u201cHold your tongue.\u201d \u201cBe patient.\u201d \u201cTrust the Lord\u201d (Proverbs 21:23, Ephesians 4:2, Proverbs 3:5\u20136, Romans 6:17). My life is then filled with increasing freedom from sin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But when I\u2019m not soaked in God\u2019s word, it\u2019s another world. I live in increasing slavery to my desire for control. Anxiety moves in, along with grumbling, jealousy, and discontentment (Philippians 2:14, James 3:16).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Do you ever notice a difference in your life when you meditate on and practice God\u2019s word versus when you don\u2019t? The Jews who argued with Jesus in John 8 had no room for Jesus\u2019s words (John 8:37) and couldn\u2019t hear, or understand and retain, what Jesus said (v.43).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
May we hear. May we be ready and open to be washed in the words of the Bible over and over. May we hold onto Jesus\u2019s teachings (v.31), know the truth (v.32), and obey His Word (v.51) because Jesus\u2019s words bring freedom from the power of sin and death\u2014and it is for freedom we have been set free (Galatians 5:1).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
My son resembles his Taiwanese heritage with straight midnight hair, tan skin, and dark eyes. So when I came across his text message chain with another kid who posted bowls of rice and other racist images, I told him what he needed to do. \u201cI don\u2019t need you to teach me,\u201d my son replied. \u201cI […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":89,"featured_media":72654,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[305],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-72820","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-john25"],"acf":{"hero_background_image":false,"related_plans":[72756],"weekly_truth":false,"grace_day":false,"share_text":"#SheReadsTruth","devotional_text":"THE SON SETS YOU FREE<\/b>
\r\nby Seana Scott<\/i>
\r\n
My son resembles his Taiwanese heritage with straight midnight hair, tan skin, and dark eyes. So when I came across his text message chain with another kid who posted bowls of rice and other racist images, I told him what he needed to do.<\/p>
\r\n
\u201cI don\u2019t need you to teach me,\u201d my son replied. \u201cI know what I\u2019m doing.\u201d<\/p>
\r\n
Jesus\u2019s relationship with the Jews reminds me of my son\u2019s comment, \u201cI don\u2019t need you to teach me.\u201d As we come to John 8:30, Jesus had been teaching in the temple and many Jews believed in Him because of what He said. Jesus then offered them a truth that could save them from much more than a text message bully\u2014but they didn\u2019t want Jesus\u2019s teaching. They acted like overly confident teenagers, offended by the aged wisdom of the One that they had just come to believe was the Son of God (vv.28\u201331).<\/p>
\r\n
Jesus might have sounded like a parent while telling them, \u201cIf you continue in my word, you really are my disciples. You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free\u201d (vv.31\u201332). He told them that if the Son set them free, they would be free indeed (v.36).<\/p>
\r\n
But the Jews pushed back. I imagine they rolled their eyes like my son, brushing off the redirection they thought they didn\u2019t need. \u201cWe don\u2019t need your teaching. We\u2019re Abraham\u2019s descendants and don\u2019t need to be set free from slavery\u201d (paraphrase mine). They thought they were in the know\u2014but they didn\u2019t know they were slaves to sin (Romans 6:15\u201318).<\/p>
\r\n
The fact is, however, we need the same truth the Jews rejected. Unless we, too, hold onto, or know and follow, Jesus\u2019s teachings, we, too, can live as slaves to sin. To be a slave is to live in submission to someone or something. Now, of course we are saved by grace through faith and not by works (Ephesians 2:8\u20139), but we also learn to walk with God by practicing God\u2019s teachings. The more we obey Him instead of the pull of our sin, the more freedom we find.<\/p>
\r\n
I see this in my own life.<\/p>
\r\n
When I soak my mind in God\u2019s word, I increasingly follow the pattern of the Bible\u2019s teachings. \u201cHold your tongue.\u201d \u201cBe patient.\u201d \u201cTrust the Lord\u201d (Proverbs 21:23, Ephesians 4:2, Proverbs 3:5\u20136, Romans 6:17). My life is then filled with increasing freedom from sin.<\/p>
\r\n
But when I\u2019m not soaked in God\u2019s word, it\u2019s another world. I live in increasing slavery to my desire for control. Anxiety moves in, along with grumbling, jealousy, and discontentment (Philippians 2:14, James 3:16).<\/p>
\r\n
Do you ever notice a difference in your life when you meditate on and practice God\u2019s word versus when you don\u2019t? The Jews who argued with Jesus in John 8 had no room for Jesus\u2019s words (John 8:37) and couldn\u2019t hear, or understand and retain, what Jesus said (v.43).<\/p>
\r\n
May we hear. May we be ready and open to be washed in the words of the Bible over and over. May we hold onto Jesus\u2019s teachings (v.31), know the truth (v.32), and obey His Word (v.51) because Jesus\u2019s words bring freedom from the power of sin and death\u2014and it is for freedom we have been set free (Galatians 5:1).<\/p>","share_image_height":"640","day_number":"15","scripture":"John 8:31-59, Romans 6:15-18, Galatians 5:1","available":true,"ad_banner_name":"","ad_banner_image":false,"ad_banner_url":"","songs":"","key_verse":"","key_verse_reference":"","background_image":false,"background_color":"#FBF7F3","scripture_references":false,"share_image":false,"author_name":"","author_bio":"","guest_social_media":false,"show_ad":true,"ad_override":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72820","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/89"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=72820"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72820\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/72654"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72820"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72820"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72820"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}