Room

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF JOHN

ROOM

John 8:33-38

33 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?" 34 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. 37 I know you are Abraham's descendants. Yet you are ready to kill me, because you have no room for my word. 38 I am telling you what I have seen in the Father's presence, and you do what you have heard from your father." 

NIV

One of the first truths within this section of dialog between Jesus and the Jews, or the Pharisees, because he tells them they are trying to kill him and it is only the Pharisees which are in that position at this time, is about being free or being a slave to sin. Now of course we know we all sin, that is none of us are absolutely free of some sort of sin, but to be a slave to sin is to be living full force under the influence of our own evil desires, as well as giving in to every temptation we face as presented by Satan. It appears the Pharisees were slaves to their own self-righteousness, pride in their adherence to the Law, and if we extrapolate to the end of the story, they were guilty of murder, in their hearts right now, but in the physical when they forced the Romans to crucify Christ. But the main issue Jesus was talking about was the condition of their hearts, as he knew they wanted to kill him. What is the condition of our hearts? If Jesus has set us free then we are no longer slaves to sin, but we have become a part of the family, co-heirs with Jesus. Yes, we still commit sin, but how can we not, being human, as it is only the divine that has no sin? In the context of what Jesus was saying the son of a family had the right to free slaves, slaves could not free themselves, and they had no rights in the family. Although they argued they were a part of the family of Abraham and therefore they were not slaves, but sons of Abraham and therefore able to be free on their own, Jesus told them they were slaves to sin and not free unless he freed them. When people have no room in their heart for the truth of Jesus, the truth of God, they are not free, but slaves to their own form of sin. Some people like the Pharisees are so intent in living in their own style, living for their own passions, lusts, greed, self-pride, they argue in their own defense that religion, that faith in God is for weak minded people, that either it is a hoax or that God loves everyone and therefore a loving God will admit all people to heaven no matter of their sin. We who know the truth, know that is simply not true, but the words of Jesus are. We must always be open to his words within our hearts. We must never shut out the words of Jesus, or even crowd them out with all our own thoughts, our own desires, our own wants, our own life. We must always ensure the main room of our heart is full of the words of Jesus. Grace is the divine influence upon our hearts and how that is reflected in our lives. If we are allowing our own needs and desires to influence our lives more than the words of Jesus, we need to examine our hearts to see who has the biggest room.