It’s interesting how thoughts come up on a person. This is especially the case when I’m reading the Bible, I’ll hit a verse I’ve read dozens of times (or more) and a new perspective suddenly comes of it.
And so it was with John 8:34 in tonight’s reading: “Jesus answered them, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin.’” A simple sentence to which I, as a Christian, would give little thought. I mean…of course. We know this.
But I’m reminded of a piece of my personal testimony here, when the first verse I read after God woke me up to the fatal flaw in my thinking was Proverbs 16:25 — “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.” I remember a moment in my life when I really thought I was looking for the answers. I even bought a cheap NIV Bible and tried to read it, and I remember specifically thinking that it didn’t make sense. It all sounded kind of foolish to me. I still have that Bible, and it reminds me.
The thing is, if I’d read that verse out of Proverbs in that state of mind, it would’ve gone right past me to no effect. “A way that seems right leading to death?” Whatever.
Yet when I picked up the Bible that day God saved me, it did make sense — I realized immediately I was on a spiritual path I thought was the right way, but it wasn’t. I thought my good life was taking me straight to heaven, but no. Quite the opposite. And with that opened up to me, more came. I was able to see the truth in a verse like Romans 6:23 — “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” I was ready to collect my right. My wages. What I deserved. In my mind, skipping right over the details and going to that eternal life.
But…Proverbs 16:25.
Even more powerful though, I was able to see myself in verses like 1 Corinthians 1:18 — “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” I use the NIV for that translation because of that word — “foolishness” (the ESV says “folly”). The very same word I uttered to myself when I’d tried to read “the message of the cross” years before. The word used by “those who are perishing.”
That brings me back to John 8:34. “Jesus answered them, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin.’” This is exactly the kind of thing that would’ve had me putting the book back on the shelf and walking away years ago (if I’d even gotten that far…which I would not have). That’s probably the case with a lot of other people who brush up against the Bible in their spiritual journeys. Read all the “spiritual” books? Yeah. Buddha, the Quran, whatever new age stuff I can get my hands on. But some dude telling me that if I practice sin, I’m a slave to it? Isn’t that a bit far? I’m no slave. To the contrary, I’m not really that bad a person at all. I mean, yeah, I’ve done a few things, but I’m not Hitler, right? Slave to sin. Pfft.
Back on the shelf? Might as well just toss it in the trash.
Here’s the challenge then: If someone reads the very words of Jesus and comes away with that, how can anyone convince them otherwise? [Let’s leave aside the extra layers of them not really even believing Jesus said it at all — or even believing Jesus existed, or any other of a number of excuses that fly around the minds and musings of the unbeliever.] It’s true that God draws those who are his, and if he doesn’t, it would make sense that there’s nothing you can do to change that. I mean…he’s God. But here’s the deal: God also uses his means for bringing his truth to people, and most times, those means use other people. I came to believe in God because I heard a pastor speak the truth of the gospel on a Christmas Day thirty-some years ago. And the odd thing is, I didn’t even believe him on that day. It took a whole week for it to sink in before I got it and opened that Bible to Proverbs. But God used a person. And he’s used countless others since to grow me up. And you could be one of those people on someone else’s timeline of Christian growth (whether you believe or not). Even these words here could be the spark that gets you to open a Bible and actually listen when God speaks to you.
Charles Spurgeon once said, “If God would have painted a yellow stripe on the backs of the elect I would go around lifting shirts.” It is not ours to know or decide who gets it, but in God’s way (by his means) it is ours to let others know his truth, and to let that small piece do his work.
Every piece of it. Even the part that tells you you’re a slave to sin.