"..you will know the truth.." - John 8:31-32 (GNT)

Believing in Jesus historically has always been a battle between truth and falsehood, light and dark, love and hate. 

Some western nations were founded on the absolute truths found in God’s word as the guiding principle for its laws and governance. Belief in Jesus has never been more crucial than it is now as our nation reevaluates its position on what truth is. 

“To believe” in this passage also means to “entrust,” which is in the passive voice, in the active voice, it can be translated “to commit.” 

In this passage above, Jesus was speaking to the Jewish believers in the temple. The word that John uses for “obey” is quite different than just mere obedience; it is the Greek word “menō,” which means to abide or take your place. Other words that help to develop the term “menō” are the words endure, remain, and to stand. The concept that is being spoken by Jesus is, “if you stand and endure in my teaching, you are really my disciples.” 

Jesus made no bones about it, a disciple or “learner” (or present day definition “student”) was one who made a stand for Jesus and remained (or endured) despite the hardships associated with being one committed to the purposes of Jesus. 

The Disciples in Jesus’ day were considered radicals who were disruptive and were deemed to be operating outside the confines of Jewish law and tradition. In our day and time, it is easy for us to believe in Jesus and be His follower because of our lenient culture permitting tolerance, but that won't last for long. 

There are oppressive cultures like China and Iran, where Christianity is thriving but is also under a significant daily threat of persecution. These believers are also considered disruptive to the established order.

My point for bringing this up is that trusting the words of Jesus as a believer can be radical for us too if we commit ourselves to Him and His purposes for our lives; it can be transformative, and at the same time, be disruptive. 

Then Jesus called the crowd and his disciples to him. “If any of you want to come with me,” he told them, “you must forget yourself, carry your cross, and follow me. For if you want to save your own life, you will lose it; but if you lose your life for me and for the gospel, you will save it. Do you gain anything if you win the whole world but lose your life? Of course not! There is nothing you can give to regain your life. If you are ashamed of me and of my teaching in this godless and wicked day, then the Son of Man will be ashamed of you when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.” 
Mark 8:34-38 (GNT)

Being a disciple is not just about being a learner, but being an adherent or imitator of Jesus, becoming like the teacher, this is where faith meets life. 

Jesus says, “you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” The question we are left with is “what truth?” If it were only about that Jesus was the Messiah, then we could go on with our lives, and Jesus could be something we could add on to our lives like anything else we have learned. The truth that is spoken of here in this passage is much more than who Jesus is; it is the revelation of who we are in Him. That is how it sets us free, for we are imagers of our creator, we were designed to be like Him and spread the joy that was His when He created us to fill the entire earth with His joyful presence. We cannot get away from it; this truth is our true identity; we were created in His likeness. 

There is a great freedom that flows when we come into alignment with Christ and His purpose for our lives.

“We have, then, my friends, complete freedom to go into the Most Holy Place by means of the death of Jesus. He opened for us a new way, a living way, through the curtain—that is, through his own body. We have a great priest in charge of the house of God. So let us come near to God with a sincere heart and a sure faith, with hearts that have been purified from a guilty conscience and with bodies washed with clean water.” Hebrews 10:19-22 (GNT)

We are a true reflection of Christ Jesus when we truly believe. We have placed within us the total of all we need to live a life of faith and Godliness.

“Everything we could ever need for life and complete devotion to God has already been deposited in us by his divine power. For all this was lavished upon us through the rich experience of knowing him who has called us by name and invited us to come to him through a glorious manifestation of his goodness.” 

2 Peter 1:3 (TPT)

So no matter what happens in our world or our sphere of influence, we have this great resource already inside of us, which is Christ within us. 

“Who could ever separate us from the endless love of God’s Anointed One? Absolutely no one! For nothing in the universe has the power to diminish his love toward us. Troubles, pressures, and problems are unable to come between us and heaven’s love. What about persecutions, deprivations, dangers, and death threats? No, for they are all impotent to hinder omnipotent love, even though it is written: “All day long we face death threats for your sake, God. We are considered to be nothing more than sheep to be slaughtered!” Yet even in the midst of all these things, we triumph over them all, for God has made us to be more than conquerors, and his demonstrated love is our glorious victory over everything! So now I live with the confidence that there is nothing in the universe with the power to separate us from God’s love. I’m convinced that his love will triumph over death, life’s troubles, fallen angels, or dark rulers in the heavens. There is nothing in our present or future circumstances that can weaken his love.” 
Romans 8:35-38 (TPT) 

Faith in Christ is disruptive of the status quo, for our lives are so much more in Christ than we could ever imagine.  There is so much that is revealed to us as we commit our lives to Him daily by faith, we talk with Him, we speak His words and perform His works of healing and restoration to a broken world.  This is when His joy abounds in us and through us, we are fulfilling our created purpose. 

“In this new creation life, your nationality makes no difference, or your ethnicity, education, or economic status—they matter nothing. For it is Christ that means everything as he lives in every one of us!” 

Colossians 3:11 (TPT)

Be Blessed;

Stephen Barnett