Married to the Mindset

John 8:31-36

The Truth Shall Make You Free

³¹ Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. ³² And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”
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’?”
³⁴ Jesus answered them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin. ³⁵ And a slave does not abide in the house forever, but a son abides forever. ³⁶ Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.

This discourse was arguably a turning point in Jesus' ministry because He was attacking straight on, a mindset that hindered His people - and still hinders them to this day.

You must understand that the Jews rejected Jesus because in their eyes, He failed. What was expected of their Messiah was not found anywhere in Jesus Christ. Look at the list of heroes in the Word of God leading up to Jesus and what they achieved...Moses brought Egyptian deliverance, Joseph saved them from the famine, King Saul delivers from the Amorites, David delivers from the Philistines; Jesus didn't do any of these things...in fact, He allowed Himself to be captured and killed by Israel's enemies!

What's so amazing about this truth is, all of the prophets of old testify to the fact that the Messiah will give His life, but the Jews didn't wanna focus on that as much as they wanted to focus on the destruction of their enemies and the reestablishing of Israel.

I gave that background to say this: Christians today can and have adopted the same mentality when it comes to Jesus Christ...if He doesn't 'perform' to said expectations, we naturally pull away and stop trusting Him.

Numbers 14:11 - 'Then the Lord said to Moses, 'How long will these people reject Me? And how long will they not believe Me, with all the signs which I have performed among them?'

All throughout the Old Testament we read the disappointments of God towards His people - in many ways, He is still disappointed! Our unbelief, our mindset towards Him has always disrespected and challenged His might.

So where is humility? Where is sincere repentance? It is trapped in the prison of our own preconceived ideas, and only a miracle of revelation can break us out.

Some of the mindsets we've adopted over the years have the potential to destroy our Christian faith: one of these is our approach to church attendance...it amazes me how people simply refuse to attend evening services! Some of the larger churches in America have given up the fight and simply have services in the morning because people will not come. Where did we get this from? Another mindset is working on Sundays...our church days were set aside for exactly that - Worship! The fear of financial strains and dependence has created a mindset that deters us from spending quality time with our God.

There are many more, but the truth is - we need a miracle from God and a determination to cling to His truth...let me make a statement to you:

Our faith many times can be linked to our abilities...lately - many of us link our faith to our determination...

In other words, you'll believe God as long as you are motivated to do so...but when opposition or obstacles appear, you back off - this cannot be in our Christianity...we must believe God no matter what! It's the only way we'll break free from these mindsets that hold us down.

Jesus said, you shall know the Truth (Me), and the Truth (Me), shall make you free. Do you want to be free? Or are you satisfied with your present state of mind? Repentance and humility towards God is our only chance of freedom.