“You shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.”

— John 8:32

The world boasts about its freedom all of the time. For example, there is a poem that starts like this:

It matters not how straight the gate,
how charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate.
I am the captain of my soul.

Hogwash. Luther put it much more accurately when he said that the will of the unregenerate man is like a dumb jackass ridden by the devil who turns it whithersoever he will. Or to change the metaphor, he is like a man chained to the oars below deck while Satan steers the ship laughingly over the precipice into the churning chasm beneath.

But the Christian has been set free…free to serve Christ, free to follow Christ, free to do great things for Christ because those shackles have been broken at Calvary.

It begins with repentance, a determination to turn from sin and to follow Jesus Christ. “As you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him” (Colossians 2:6)—which is a continual repenting of sin and determining to follow Christ in all the ways of new obedience.

Somebody said, “There are just so many people in me. If I only knew which one I was, I would know what I ought to do.” But if we set in our hearts on the determination to love God with all our being and to love our neighbor as ourselves, then we are fulfilling the greatest command. True freedom is the choice to do what is right.

Oh, God of Truth, give us the strength today to live in the freedom which Your truth provides. Thank You for our freedom in Christ Jesus to live our lives in service and in truth. Let the truth continue to bring freedom and let us be faithful bearers of truth…

BY GOD’S STRENGTH, WE CAN
WALK IN FREEDOM FROM SIN.