John 8:33

Wednesday 2/8/12

John 8:33 They answered Him, “We are Abraham’s descendants, and have never been in bondage to anyone. How can you say, ‘You will be made free’?”

Interpretation:

     It says in the Bible that God is not a respecter of persons. This means that He’s not impressed nor does He grant certain rights or privileges just because of your background, race, gender, knowledge, degrees, etc. However, these Jews knew that they were Abraham’s descendants and were quite proud of it. And yet, they were in the same boat as everyone else as far as Jesus was concerned. In fact, I would argue that they might have even been at a disadvantage since they thought they were something when they were not. Galatians 6:3 says, “For if anyone thinks himself to be something when he is nothing he deceives himself.” These Jews thought they had it in with God because of special rights or privileges. But in reality, they didn’t. And by looking at what they had to offer Jesus (i.e. their heritage), they risked missing out on humbling themselves and seeing the truth about their need so that they might be made free.

     God has blessed me a lot in my walk with Him: I’ve grown up in a Christian home, I know a lot about the Bible, I have many talents, etc. Logically, I will have no problem telling you that everything good in me is from God. But what happens way more often than I’d like to admit is that I’ll start thinking that my Biblical knowledge, natural talents, or any of God’s other blessings on my life make me better than the next person. Pride so easily sneaks into my heart; and although I can easily suppress it on the outside so no one suspects anything, I still struggle on the inside with thinking that I’m pretty great and that God should be impressed with me because of my Biblical knowledge and talents.

     This, however, is such a dangerous place to be. For like Romans 12:3a says, “For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think.” If I’m thinking of myself more highly than I ought to think, I can easily fall into the trap that the Jews fell into, thinking that I’m something special and risk missing seeing the truth that all my gifts and talents are from God and that He can work in me and use me with or without them. The other thing I need to remember, too, though, is that God can set me off to the side or take away my gifts if He thinks it best because I’m getting prideful or thinking too much of myself.

     I don’t want to be deceived and believe the lie that I’m better than the next person because of something about myself; rather, I pray that, whenever needed, God would open my eyes and remind me of the truth of how He sees me and is not impressed with what I think should impress Him. I pray that I might accept this truth that I would be made free once and for all from this deceptive pride that regularly seems to make its way back into my heart.

Application:

     I need to stop believing the lie that my knowledge of the Bible or my natural gifts make me more special in God’s sight. I need to ask God for forgiveness whenever the pride swells up in my heart and then ask God to break me and give me humility as He gently reminds me that He is not impressed and that I’m nothing without Him.