February 23 Of God’s Family

John 8:33-35 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?” Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. 35 Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. 36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.”
 
ONE very important reason to study and know history is to learn from our past. Around the world, governments, people groups, families and the church repeat age-old problems. Tragically, dissension, division and arrogance make us slaves to sin. Will we ever be free of these evils? Do we somehow think we are superior to or isolated from the past?
   Apparently, the Jews thought that way. They were in great error to say, “We are Abraham’s descendants and have never been slaves of anyone.” Did they forget 400 years of Israel’s enslavement in Egypt? Did they forget idolatrous kings led their ancestors to  such horrible sins as sacrificing children to stone idols? Had they forgotten the 70-year exile to Babylon? Even more, did they somehow forget Judea and Galilee were under the authority of tyrannical kings and the Roman Emperor? From generation to generation, Abraham’s descendants knew physical and spiritual enslavement.
   Why was their history so marred? Moses spoke God’s warning to Abraham’s descendants in Deuteronomy 30:15-18 See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction. 16 For I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commands, decrees and laws; then you will live and increase, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess. 17 But if your heart turns away and you are not obedient, and if you are drawn away to bow down to other gods and worship them, 18 I declare to you this day that you will certainly be destroyed. You will not live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess.
   It is very clear, isn’t it? Sin kept Israel from truly being Abraham’s descendants, in the Father’s family. They missed God’s freedom because they chose to leave his loving protection.
   What do we do with this sin legacy in our world and our lives? Do you want to be free? Do you desire your church and your nation to be free? God has given to the world the means to break sin’s deadly chains. He is Jesus. Galatians 5:1 It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. Look to your life. Know what is wrong. Look to Jesus. Know what is right. Call on the Spirit to break sin’s bonds. Live free of sin, bound to the Savior. Be a child of God in the Father’s family.
 
Prayer: Turn me, Lord, from past habits that chain me in any way from being your child. In Jesus’ name I pray, amen.