ListenDaily - 04 May 2009; Hold on!
Jesus said, "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." (NIV)
Jesus said... “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” (NKJV)
John 8:31-32 (find any passage at www.Biblegateway.org)
"If you hold to my teaching..."
The New International Version uses the word "hold" here. Many others use the phrase "abide in" or something similar. I want to thank my friend and sister in Christ, Melissa, for commenting on this. I was poised to jump into the 'teaching' here, but it is important that we look at what Jesus was saying about His teaching. Whether we "hold to' or 'abide in', there is an emphasis here.
And it is worthy to note that Jesus was speaking to believers.
This is not a program, and it is not a process. It cannot be achieved solely by a Sunday morning service, a mid-week Bible study, or a daily devotional. If we want to move into discipleship, truth, and freedom, then His teaching must permeate who we are -- it must be who we are, or at least who we are becoming. "WWJD" -- "what would Jesus do" -- may have become a trite, overused phrase, but it is the way of life for a believer; imitatio Dei --the imitation of God..
Consider Jesus teaching. Think about the Great Commandment, the Great Commission, the good Samaritan, the widow and her mite, the woman at the well; how does this teaching affect how you live? Are they sermons and Sunday School lessons? Or are they the model by which you live?
Take a moment to think about, read about, and pray about some of Jesus' teaching. Can you commit to living in them? Holding onto them?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Questions:
1. Which of Jesus' teachings are your favorites? 2. Which are the hardest? 3. How do you hold onto them both?
INTERESTING THOUGHT ON FREEDOM:
"There are two freedoms:
the false where a man is free to do what he likes;
and the true where a man is free to do as he ought."
Charles Kingsley
"On this side of the grave we are exiles, on that, citizens;
on this side, orphans, on that, children;
on this side, captives, on that, freemen."
Henry Ward Beecher
"The Jews looked upon a serpent to be freed from serpents;
and we look upon the death of Christ to be delivered from death."
Augustine
"The lost enjoy forever the horrible
freedom they have demanded..."
C.S. Lewis
"God, having placed good and evil in our power,
has given us full freedom of choice;
He does not keep back the unwilling,
but embraces the willing."
John Chrysostom
"A Christian is a perfectly free lord of all, subject to none.
A Christian is a perfectly dutiful servant of all, subject of all, subject to all."
Martin Luther
"God created things which had free will.
That means creatures which can go either wrong or right.
Some people think they can imagine a creature
which was free but had no possibility of going wrong; I cannot.
If a thing is free to be good it is also free to be bad.
And free will is what has made evil possible.
Why, then, did God give them free will?
Because free will, though it makes evil possible,
is also the only thing that makes possible any love
or goodness or joy worth having."
C.S. Lewis
No comments:
Post a Comment