“If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth and the truth shall set you free” (John 8:31-32).

Freedom.

Since it is Independence week, the theme of the Verses of the Day will deal with freedom.

Jesus defines for us what it means to be a disciple. And, you will see, the definition is redundant because disciple literally means to be a follower. If you are a follower of Jesus, you are following his teaching. See…redundant. But, I think Jesus tells us this because we somehow don’t seem to get it. Because we want to be his disciple yet we want to live lives according to what we think and believe is right. I know. Crazy!

Here is the first lesson from this weeks’ Verses of the Day – You cannot believe in lies and be free. Freedom is in knowing and believing the truth.

The biggest battle you face as a disciple is between what you know and what you feel. What you know to be true comes from God. God’s truth is our baseline for truth. But what we know to be true doesn’t have the same pull as what we feel. When it comes to effectiveness, our feelings have way more power than what we know.

Most of us are very good at living our lives based on what we know rather than what we feel.

• Imagine if you ate everything you felt like eating.
• Imagine if you said everything you felt like saying.
• Imagine if you did everything you felt like doing.

We’d all be in terrible shape! We’d have no friends! We’d all probably be in jail!

While we’re pretty good at living our lives based on what we know to be right, when it comes to faith issues, too many Christians give into how we feel about God, about money, about morality, about sex.

And that’s a terrible way to live. If you truly want to be free, the starting point is God’s truth. Stick with what you know. You already know how to live like that.

True freedom is found in obedience.

“If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone” (Romans 12:18).

This verse always makes me laugh. Look, relationships are hard. And, great relationships are really, really hard! But they are worth it.

Paul recognizes that a good and healthy relationship requires the work of both parties. One cannot have a good and healthy relationship with someone who refuses to act and behave in good and healthy ways. Both parties have to agree to work toward health, and it is hard work. Healthy relationships do not just happen. They have to be worked at.

So, here’s a way to know if you are with someone who is valuing your relationship enough to work at it – A disagreement with a unhealthy, toxic person will turn into an argument that becomes a bigger problem. A disagreement with a healthy, good person will turn into a conversation that leads to a solution.

Know the difference. With the unhealthy, toxic person, no matter what you do in the relationship, it will remain combative and unhealthy. With someone who is healthy, they will work with you through the difficulties of misunderstanding toward health and peace.

So, “If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.” However, when the other party continues their toxic and unhealthy behavior…let them be. Move on. Pray for them. Love them from a distance. You are not responsible for fixing their toxicity.

Relationships are hard. Great relationships are really, really hard. Build relationships with people who value you enough to work at it together.

“I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this scroll: If anyone adds anything to them, God will add to that person the plagues described in this scroll. And if anyone takes words away from this scroll of prophecy, God will take away from that person any share in the tree of life in the Holy City, which are described in this scroll” (Revelation 22:18-19).

It’s nothing new for people to want to either add to what God has said or to take away sections of the Bible. This was a temptation at the very beginnings of the church. That’s why God warns us not to do so.

I want to highlight two things about these verses:
1. God takes his word seriously – God has given to the church everything we need to thrive and mature as followers of Jesus through his word. God expects us to keep his word with no deviations or subtractions. The word of God is to be our absolute guide.
2. There have always been sections of the Bible that people have had trouble with. That’s the reason why people either add to what is already there, or they want to strike what is disagreeable to them.

So, here is the guideline for how followers of Jesus Christ are to deal with God’s word – If you believe that God told you something that contradicts what is already said in scripture or what is not in scripture…you can absolutely know…THAT AIN’T FROM GOD!!!

The Bible is our standard. The Bible is our guide. The Bible is our truth. That’s what it means to be a follower of God. There is no other way to know what God wants and desires apart from God’s word.

So, good job church, for reading God’s word every day. Blessings!