John 8: 31-32 If you hold to my teachings then you are truly my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.

This scripture speaks volumes of good wisdom that can help us in life. What does it mean to hold to His teachings? It could mean to memorize it, to adhere to it, to follow it, or to live by it. And what are we being set free from? I believe that we are set free from many things such as regret, guilt, shame, immoral living, wrong doings, negative mindsets, and the misery that we suffer from sin. The benefits that we gain from knowing the truth and abiding the word of God are enormous. But we can also suffer enormously if we do not now the truth or abide by the word of God.

Sometimes hearing, admitting, or facing the truth can be very hard to do. It is much easier for us to blame someone or something else for our actions than it is to face the fact that we are responsible for what we have done. But the truth is the only way that we will ever be able to gain freedom from the bondage that we are trapped in. God instructed the bible to written so that we can know the truth and so that we can be set free from traps of the devil. Admitting our wrongs, our faults, and our weaknesses may seem difficult because it hits our pride and if we struggle with insecurity it can cause us to feel more insecure. It can cause us to feel that others may look at us differently and the fear of disapproval seems harder than owning our truth but it is the exact opposite that is true. If someone disapproves of us because we stand by our morals and our values then that is a person that we probably don’t need to have a relationship with anyways. And sometimes facing the truth is hard because it is a truth about something that we have become accustomed to and facing that truth will require us to make a difficult change. No matter how hard it is to hear and face the truth it is much harder to stay in the bondages that not facing it causes.

God knows everything and He knew that He needed to make a way for all of us to be able to know that intentions that He created the world and everyone in it for before sin disrupted everything. So He had a instruction manual written for the way to live the pure and Holy life that we were all created for. And it is just like the instructions of putting a product together- if we skip a step or if we put piece in the wrong spot the product won’t fit together or work properly- our lives won’t align in the will of God if we don’t follow the instructions that He has given us. All of the eyewitness accounts and stories that are written in the bible are examples of human nature, wickedness, results of actions and sins, God’s thoughts and character and His reactions, results of wrong choices and decisions, as well as the proper choices, right living, being lead by the Holy Spirit, how to have a good conscience, the attacks of the enemy and how to fight against them, and many other things. I believe that part of the reason these stories are told is because God wants us to know how certain behaviors and actions can have a negative effect on our lives and are against His wishes in hopes that we will gain the wisdom and learn the lesson and choose not to make the same choices. The wisdom and knowledge that we can gain from the bible is meant to help us to live in alignment with God and His intentions for us. That is the only way that we will be set free from all the things that keep us from God’s will for our lives.

We can live a life of peace, joy, and contentment if we will face the truth. No matter how hard or how scary it may feel we can do it. We can be set free from the misery, the discontentment, the dissatisfaction, the lies, and the torment that the enemy sets against us. And the only way to do so is to face the truth and abide by God’s word. Only then can we be set free to live the life that God has planned for us.