Liberating Truth
LENT 2025 DEVOTIONAL:
John 8:31-59 (NIV)
(Gordon Tan, Associate Lay Leader)
John 8:31, 32 (Amplified Bible, Classic Edition)
31So Jesus said to those Jews who had believed in Him, If you abide in My word [hold fast to My teachings and live in accordance with them], you are truly My disciples.
32And you will know the Truth, and the Truth will set you free.
Reading the passage, I was struck by how many times the word ‘truth’, and words related to knowing or knowledge appeared. This knowledge is about who knows God. I noticed that Jesus was addressing two sets of people amongst his audience – “the Jews who had believed him” and those who challenged his authority. The discourse that ensued concerned who the true children of Abraham were. In other words, it was about who belonged to God, in contrast to who belonged to the devil.
The essence of today’s reading is crystalised in verses 31 and 32. I found the Amplified Bible version most instructive. To truly know God and become God’s children, we need to abide in Jesus’ Word. To abide is to “hold fast to My teachings and live in accordance with them”. In other words, to abide requires me not only to accept and believe in God’s Word, it requires me to live as the Word of God instructs me. Head knowledge alone is insufficient to enable me to learn the truth. I believe that I must also adopt biblical principles to receive the truth that will set me free from sin’s bondage.
As I reflect on what bondage to sin is, I see that it refers to my old habits, my carnal desires (“carry out your father’s desires” [the devil’s desires], v44). As long as I continue to yield to my will, to give in to my longings and addictions, I will not live in truth. In contrast, “whoever belongs to God hears what God says” (v47) will live in truth. It is only by living in this truth that I will be set free.
In addition, I need to hear what God says and live as He tells me to. When I do this more and more, the truth will set me free and allow me to live ‘above’ the bondages that bind me. It will free me to live as God has designed from the day He created me in His image.
Dear loving Father, I want to thank You that Your Truth will deliver me from my sinful ways. I thank You that You know me more than I know myself, and You continue to love and forgive me. I want to obey and walk in Your ways. Help me when I stumble and fall because I know I will. But I ask that Your everlasting love will pick me up and deliver me from evil. Thank You for Your abundant patience and forgiveness. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.
Reflection Questions:
1. How well do you know Jesus’ teachings? What will you do to raise that awareness?
2. How has your journey been as a disciple of Jesus? What steps would you take to live out Jesus’ teachings in your life?
3. Think of one experience or incident in which verse 32 (“Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free”) came true for you. Thank God for it.
