Scripture

Our verse for today comes from John 8:32, “And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.”

Background

Are you free? Living in these United States, I know that you are. But are you living as one who is free? In the movie, Braveheart, the country of Scotland is invaded and conquered by England under the reign of King Edward I, known as Longshanks. As the rule of Longshanks becomes more and more oppressive, a young man named William Wallace loses his father, brother, and eventually his beautiful bride to the cruelty of the king and his lords, and his conscience is so stirred that he cannot but fight for the freedom of his beloved country. After many years of battles, victories, losses, and near-death encounters, Wallace is ultimately betrayed and captured by the English. He is tried for treason and found guilty, sentenced to torture for the sake of purifying him by pain. After suffering more than any human could bear, he is offered one final chance for mercy. But rather than submit, he cries out “Freedom” with his last breath, just before he is beheaded.

Application

You may think you are living like a free man. And I hope that you are. As powerful a death as Wallace experienced, one that inspired his countrymen to eventually take back their homeland, our Savior Jesus gave His perfect life to set us free from so much more than national oppression and foreign rule. But since His freedom lives and works at the level of our hearts, not in the public domain of wars and politics, we can think ourselves unencumbered, when actually we are more oppressed than all of Scotland was. If you have not experienced it yet, there will most likely come a time in your life when you crave simplicity, when less is more and the trappings of life lose their luster. That is a call to freedom, yes, but even more than that, God has called us to a freedom of our spirits, where our love for Him so moves us to know Him and His glory that all else pales. He wants and intends for nothing to hold you captive. His Son gave His life to make you free, free from whatever has a hold on you. Let Him make you free, so you can live as only the free can.

Charge

As we seek Him today, surrender whatever has a hold of you. Give him the emotions, the possessions, and whatever else it might be, and receive the freedom He gave us through the cross.

Salvation – Eternal Life in Less Than 150 Words