Questions
8a. Who is a colorful character in your family tree?
8b. What has knowing the truth set you free to do?
* * * * *
What's happening in John 8?
vv 1-11 The woman caught in adultery
vv 12-30 Light of the world
vv 31-38 The Truth will set you free
vv 39-47 Children of the devil
vv 48-59 Before Abraham was, I AM
2 comments:
8a. I have so many eccentric aunts and uncles that it wouldn’t be fair to choose just one.
8b. One thing that knowing the truth has set me free to do is to be totally at peace about what will happen after death. I may still have unwarranted fears about worries in this life, but I have no fear about the next life because I know I’ll be in the best hands ever. I know, I know—I’m in those same hands NOW as well, so why worry here either? I’m slowly getting there...
vs 33
The Pharisees turned down freedom because they couldn’t see they were enslaved. They couldn’t see that the shackles around their ankles were tying them down, not just decorations that everyone had to wear. Until we can see and admit that we’re enslaved, we won’t make a run for freedom when the opportunity comes.
vs 12
Noone has to live in darkness—only by choice do we. I’m free to live in the light of Christ, illuminating my world so I can see—where to take my next step, what is around me, where God is at work...enough light for one day at a time.
As it so happens, my sister Sandy’s Facebook status today is:
"Life may be falling apart at the edges, but not at the core. God gives us enough light for the next step, so rejoice in the little light you have been given, not asking for a great spotlight to take all the shadows away."
- Phil Callaway
8a, Colorful? Eccentric? No. But I remember the relatives of my maternal grandmother's generation were so sweet and had all lived close together in the same neighborhood. Any time spent with them was such a joy for me. That grandmother of mine was the most influential on my life - a woman who may have been thought of as colorful for her time. She raised 4 children alone during the depression, working as a cook, laundry woman and anything she could find to do. She had quit school at 6th grade level to help raise her two younger sisters when their mother died. She was born and raised on a farm in Michigan and moved to Seattle after her father re-married and when she was 18. There is so much I could say about her. Colorful in the most genuine ways of how she was caring and loving, not eccentric.
8b. Knowing the truth has set me free to be honest with all my concerns and needs to a loving God. It took some years to get to this place because of family dynamics and early church teachings but I so appreciate a God who understands and looks on my heart and quickly forgives all my shortcomings.
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