Slavery

John 8:31-32 states:

To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. ³² Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

Jesus spoke these verses while preaching to a mixed crowd of people and Pharisees about his divinity, with the usual results--the people, with some reservations, were ready to accept and believe, and the Pharisees were more intent on nitpicking and splitting hairs. However, when Jesus got to these verses, the people had some misgivings, as they replied:

They answered him, “We are Abraham’s descendants and have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free?” 

I find this to be an interesting reply on the part of the people, who most certainly had been slaves in their past, to wit:

1. That insignificant 400-year episode in Egypt (and let's recall, they weren't slaves for that entire period)

2. Sold into slavery in Judges 3:8 as punishment for their disobedience

3. FOUR VERSES LATER in Judges 3:12-14

4. A Canaanite king in Judges 4:2

5. Again in Judges 6:1, which necessitated Gideon's rescue

6. Again in Judges 10:7

7. Assyrian captivity in 722 BC (not necessarily slavery, but still)

8. Babylonian captivity in 587 BC

Of course, all of this is irrelevant, since Jesus was referring to the slavery of sin, but I still find it interesting that a people as knowledgeable of their history would make a statement like this. 

For us, it's an entirely different matter. We have never NOT been slaves to sin, and when we're honest with ourselves, we acknowledge this and thank and praise Jesus for his death and resurrection absolving us of the obligation to be punished for our sins. Simply put, as I've stated over and over throughout the year, we know better. We know our shortcomings, but that doesn't make it any easier to do something about it. Repentance has two parts:

1. Remorse and sorrow for what we did

2. A promise to refrain from repeating what we did

We're pretty good at the first and have a tendency to overlook the second. Part of freeing ourselves from the slavery of sin is to change behavior and not repeat those things we've been doing. Change, of course, is something for other people to do--if God had meant us to change easily, he wouldn't have made us German and Scandinavian. Only God can make that change, but that doesn't mean that we don't have a role in asking him to assist us in that transformation.

Scott