Truth — Week 1 – Wednesday
TODAY’S VERSE
John 8:34
Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin.” (ESV)
Many of you can probably remember the first time you got a credit card. I know I can remember mine. I was heading off to NYC as a senior in high school. I had a credit limit of $1,000. To a 17 year old kid, that seemed like some serious purchasing power.
That card mimicked freedom to me. I could buy what I wanted with it, when I wanted it. Going out to dinner with friends? Not a problem. New shoes or $30 pancakes in Times Square (2006 price)? Swipe that credit card.
You see, this didn’t feel like debt; it felt like flexibility. But over time, the balance grew, the interest built, and the minimum payments didn't cut it. The payment became a burden because the price before purchasing was never truly calculated. Suddenly, what felt like financial freedom slowly began to feel like an inescapable burden. I learned a lesson at a young age that I hoped to never forget.
What started as a choice slowly became an obligation. That’s exactly how sin works. It masks itself as “fun, freeing,” and it pulls you in. But what most people don’t see until after the fact is that sin will take you farther than you ever expected to go, it will keep you longer than you ever expected to stay, and it will cost you more than you ever expected to pay.
In John 8:34, Jesus says something that surprises people: “Everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin.”
Jesus is now addressing the deeper issue briefly mentioned in yesterday’s devotion, spiritual bondage. Sin doesn’t simply lead us in the wrong direction. Jesus says it enslaves us.
At first that sounds dramatic, but think about how sin actually works. It rarely begins with chains, but instead begins with a choice. Now the question is, how does a person choose something? We typically make choices based on something “feeling good, helping us, or on the basis of us finding it exciting.”
But repeated choices slowly create patterns. Our patterns become our habits. And then our habits eventually become our masters. The person who once felt in control eventually realizes something else is controlling them. This is why Jesus speaks so plainly about sin. Sin promises you and I freedom, but it produces the opposite: enslavement.
It traps us in guilt, and it traps us in shame. It ultimately traps us in cycles we can’t break on our own. And that’s why Jesus doesn’t just diagnose the problem; He points us to the solution. Freedom will not come through willpower alone, but because of Jesus (just as Scott said on Sunday) we can be set free from the power of sin once and for all.
Freedom comes from Jesus alone.
APPLICATION
Ask yourself honestly today: Are there patterns in my life that once felt like freedom, but now feel controlling and are leading me away from God?
Bring those things before God. Freedom begins with honesty, and Jesus is not afraid of your honesty.
PRAYER
Lord, help me to recognize the areas of my life where sin is enslaving me. Give me the humility to acknowledge my need for You and the courage to bring those struggles before You. Amen.