There should be an exclamation point at the end of this verse: If the Son sets you free, you are free indeed. Can’t you hear Jesus sharing this life-changing news?
“YOU, yes I’m talking to YOU! YOU are no longer a slave to sin. I said…YOU ARE NO LONGER A SLAVE TO SIN!!! You are free…you are free…YOU ARE FREE!!!”
And the crowd goes wild. No longer bound up. No longer controlled by sin. No longer yoked to something that causes death. Freedom. Don’t get too comfortable; enter the evil one.
With me, he shows up now and then in the form of an eating disorder I’ve been set free from. Typically, I’m getting dressed when suddenly the anxiety and fear of “being fat” pops up. It’s not the typical, “This shirt makes me look fat.” It’s a debilitating sense of complete panic. Most of the time, I begin to pace and sweat, speaking death over myself.
My husband, who knows the signs of “ED” returning, steps up and reminds me I’ve been set free. Then I stand in the middle of my bedroom, with mascara smeared, thankful for a God who loves me enough to free me from such tight bondage.
Jesus paid too high of a price for us to live in any form of bondage. Being bound up says we really don’t appreciate the cross and what it represents. It’s a way of saying we’ll accept eternity in Heaven but on earth we except Hell.
God’s purpose in creating us was not for us to live a single second in bondage. Accept the aggressive forgiveness that God offers, and let Him free you from the bondage we become caught up in.
God’s will is for us is to walk in His complete freedom. I’m going to start speaking John 8:36 over my life, and I encourage you do try it too. If the Son sets ME free, I am free indeed. Let Him set you free.
(Photo courtesy of microsoft office.)
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Vicki Bruce can no longer keep the amazingly-forgiving God bound up inside of her, so she writes. Writing is her personal way of worship, and she is grateful to the Lord for allowing her to express herself to Him as well as to others. She lives in Birmingham, Alabama with her husband and is the mother of four adult children who keep her laughing and praying. Vicki expects to complete her first book of devotions by the Fall of 2015.