Category: Daily Inspirational Devotional

From the very beginning Satan has been the chief instigator of evil in the world… his two main characteristics being lying & murder. In the Garden of Eden the serpent twisted the truth & caused Eve to doubt God, and later Cain became envious of his brother Abel’s offering and murdered him. And thus Satan’s reign of terror began on earth. So as Jesus is telling us in this verse, we have two options…we are either children of God or children of Satan. If our inclination & impulsive urges are unrighteous, deceptive, and false…we follow after our father the devil. But as I John 3:8 says, if we do what is right & love one another, we are children of God. Satan’s original language is lies…the total opposite of God’s truth, and murder is not just being guilty of killing someone. for both Galatians 5:19-21 and Matthew 5:21-22 both speak of the evil works of the flesh & specifically Matthew 5 show us that anger & hatred towards a brother is considered murder in God’s eyes & thus subject to judgment.

The Jews were arguing with Jesus that Abraham was their father, and thus based their deliverance on ancestry. They had traced their descent back to the Patriarchs and were smugly using their pedigree as their key to heaven. But Jesus quickly pointed out that their father Abraham had been obedient to God no matter what God had asked of him…even to offering his son Isaac as a sacrifice. So in other words, true sonship with their heavenly Father would never be defined by biology & ancestry, but only by obedience.

Jesus was drawing the analogy between freedom & bondage…slaves & freemen. In the Greco-Roman society of the time, slaves were considered property and the lowest strata in society with no rights…living under the absolute dominion and control of their masters. But for the Jews, their customs were much more personal in respect to slaves…regarding them as a limited part of the family, but without rights to an inheritance as a lawful son would have. So by making this comparison between freedom & bondage, Jesus was simply saying that slaves obey their masters, whether it’s the cruel master of sin or the Lord God Almighty. And this bondage to sin keeps us fettered in slavery…clouding our minds, degrading our feelings, and enslaving our will. But true freedom in Christ, accomplished through the life, death, & resurrection of Jesus on our behalf, liberates & breaks the chains of slavery to sin…allowing us to freely serve God and fulfill His plan & purpose in our life.

The biggest difference between the twelve disciples & the Jewish crowds who put their faith in Jesus was that for many their profession of faith was only superficial. It lacked real perseverance, commitment & endurance to Jesus’ teachings. Something Jesus reminded the twelve of in John 15:7 when He said, “Remain in Me and My Words.” That’s because to have a fruitful life in Christ there must be obedience, dependence, & communion. And out of this saving truth comes freedom…setting us free from slavery to sin through this vital relationship with Jesus. II Corinthians 3:17 tells us, “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit is, there is freedom.” Through Jesus Christ & the Holy Spirit we are no longer in bondage to death, sin, & the hopelessness of trying to make it on our own…the heavy yoke has been lifted off our shoulders and we are liberated. Or as John 8:36 says, “If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.”

If we are to follow in the footsteps of Jesus and emulate His character for the world to see…these verses have much to teach us. Jesus never spoke on His own accord, blurting out His personal opinions or biased remarks, but rather as John 14:24 tells us He said, “The Word that you hear is not Mine but the Father’s who sent Me.” In other words, the ear of the Lord was so well attuned to His Father’s voice it was all He heard. Next, Jesus never was willfully rebellious of His Father, but always submitted His Will to the Father’s in total agreement, without any hint of competition or disagreement. (John 6:38) So we are also to be obedient, desiring to please God. (I John 3:22) Finally, Jesus never doubted God…even though for one brief moment at the crucifixion He did feel the separation from His Father, (Matthew 27:46) Jesus ultimately knew He would glorify God in the end.

Jesus came to earth in total conformity & utter submission to the Will of His Father. It meant He followed His Heavenly Father’s agenda, timetable, teaching & doctrine…and not the world’s. For Jesus knew God’s ways were perfect and His Words were flawless. (Psalm 18:30)… and that God was always upright and just in all His actions. (Deuteronomy 32:4) Jesus was then confident that His appointed time would happen within God’s perfect timing, and because of this Jesus placed all His trust under His Father’s authority & control.

Again Jesus is arguing with the Pharisees about their willful rebellion and refusal to listen to the truth. From the very first time Jesus revealed Himself as the coming Messiah to the woman at the well in John 4:26, to His use of Old Testament “I AM” language in these verses, He was illustrating how far apart heaven & earth were & how far apart the knowledge of the Pharisees and the truth was. In John 3:31 John the Baptist distinguished Jesus from all other human beings as coming from above… and of being in the world, but not of it. The Pharisees trusted in their technical knowledge of the Scriptures & would die because of it…but Believers who place their faith & trust in Jesus will experience saving knowledge of their Lord & Savior and receive eternal life.

The Pharisees were questioning Jesus bearing witness alone about Himself…not realizing that He had the divine witness of God, so nothing more was needed. Jesus accused the Pharisees of only judging by human standards which meant basing their punishment entirely on the sinful standards of the world & the infirmity of their own corrupt, & carnal nature. Jesus had made it clear earlier in John that He had been given the authority to judge, (John 5:22,27) but that the purpose of His coming was not to condemn but rather to serve. (John 3:17) And that if He did judge, it would be genuine & true and always within His Father’s Will.

Just as the pillar of fire provided light & guidance to Israel in the wilderness, (Exodus 13:21) so Jesus is our spiritual illumination in the world today. The darkness around us is filled with unhappiness & ruin…all the consequences of sin & our corrupt human nature. But sometimes we have trouble following Jesus. We’d rather lead…follow Him only on occasion, or when we’ve made a big mess of our lives. But following the light of Jesus takes commitment, trust, & obedience in His lead & example, “For the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn, which shines brighter and brighter until full day.” (Proverbs 4:18) For the longer we follow, the more attuned we become to His Voice, (John 10:4-5) and ultimately His light will start to shine through us, His Church, into the darkness. (Matthew 5:14-16 & I John 1:8-10)

Even though the earliest manuscripts & many other ancient witnesses don’t have John 7:53-8:11 in the body of their work, this story of the woman caught in adultery is a beautiful reminder of Jesus’ forgiveness & redemption…which is consistent with His Ministry during His time here on earth. The woman in this story was just a pawn for the Jewish Leaders to entrap Jesus with, but He challenged them by turning the tables & forcing them to examine their own sin-filled lives. In one sentence, Jesus effectively disqualified them all as judges to follow through with capital punishment. Their own consciences stinging with remorse & conviction…for they all knew they had no standing before God to carry out her execution…for not one of them was guiltless of sin. Or as Romans 2:1 exhorts, “Therefore you have no excuse, O man, every one of you who judges. For in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you the judge, practice the very things.” So after they had all walked away, the only sinless man that ever lived & by all rights had every authority to condemn this woman, didn’t. But neither did Jesus push her sinful life style under the carpet. With love, kindness & mercy Jesus told her to go, and leave her old life behind…which, not surprisingly, is something Jesus calls all of us to do.