March - 6
THE LIBERATING TRUTH
“If you hold to my teaching, you . . . will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” John 8:31-32
As a Jehovah’s Witness for almost forty years, Ilya tried his best to earn his salvation, and he thought he was pretty good at it. But one day he heard a Christian radio program about salvation in Christ. For Ilya this was a real eye-opener. He started studying the Christian Bible and even visited a local Christian church.
Today Ilya is a member of an evangelical fellowship, professing Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior. He loves talking about the liberating power of the gospel. He says that studying the Bible has helped him break free from all the lies he was taught for so many years.
In our verses for today Jesus teaches about freedom and slavery. For him these are not just political but main¬ly spiritual conditions. Jesus’ message to us is ¬crystal-clear: things like our religious background, our ethnicity, or our cultural heritage cannot set us free from our slavery to sin. We are too weak to liberate ourselves. Only God’s Son can set us free. And we find this real freedom when we hold to his teaching.
Note that “holding to” means much more than just listening to the gospel and politely nodding to it. Holding to Christ’s teaching means responding to biblical truth by believing it and changing our behavior. That’s how God’s truth sets us free. That’s how we become God’s chil¬dren. That’s how our spiritual journey begins.
PRAYER
Heavenly Father, we praise you for the liberating message of the gospel! Open our hearts and minds to your truth. Give us strength as we seek to hold to Christ’s teaching. Amen.
Ilya成为耶和华见证人已差不多四十年，他一向尽力赚取他的救恩，而他觉得自己的表现很不错。但有一天，他在一个基督教广播节目中听到基督的救恩，这个信息令Ilya大开眼界，他开始研读基督教的圣经，甚至参加附近一间基督教教会。
到了今天，Ilya公开承认耶稣基督为他的主和救主，并且成为一个福音派团契的成员，他时常提到福音有叫人得自由的能力，又说研读圣经帮助他摆脱多年来承受的错谬教导。
在今天的经文中，耶稣以自由和奴仆为题教训人，对祂来说，自由和奴仆不单是政治上的问题，其实它们主要是指属灵的境况。耶稣的信息非常清楚：我们的宗教背景、我们的种族，或我们的文化传统等等，都不能帮助我们脱离罪的捆绑，我们软弱无力自救，惟有神的儿子才能释放我们，我们若常常遵守祂的道，我们便能得到这真自由了。
留意「常常遵守」不是单单聆听福音和礼貌上点头以示同意那么简单；常常遵守基督的教训，就是响应和接受圣经的真理，并且改变我们的行为。神的真理就是这样叫我们得自由，我们亦因此成为神的儿女，而我们的属灵旅程也是这样开始的。
祷告
天上的父，福音的信息叫我们得自由，我们赞美祢！求祢开启我们的心思意念，接受祢的真理，又赐我们力量，常常竭力遵守基督的道。阿们。