The Truth Will Make You Free

Jesus said to those Jews who believed in him, 'When you continue to embrace all that I teach, you prove you are my true followers. For if you embrace the truth, it will release more freedom into your lives.-John 8:31-32 (The Passion Translation)

Freedom. Not bondage. Freedom.

An example of a free person in the Bible is the woman who was a great sinner in Luke 7. She touched Jesus, and he loved her and let her. She couldn't come to him if he was teaching the same thing the Pharisees were, because they were heaping a whole lot of condemnation on people. The room where she was touching him was in the house of a Pharisee, and he was saying to himself, "surely if this man were a prophet, he would know what sort of woman was touching him."(Luke 7:39)

Jesus knew exactly what sort of woman was touching him, and he was glad. He sat there and let her anoint him with the perfume and wash his feet with her tears. She poured out her love on him. Why did she do that?

Well the Bible says in 1 John 4:19, that we love him because he loved us first. He had to have loved her first. She heard about him. She heard about who he really was, so she knew she could come to him. She knew he was safe.

I always look to these stories to remind myself who Jesus is. Other people aren't always a good example of that. We are fallible and make mistakes.

That's why we carry a message. It's a message about Jesus.

We have this treasure in jars of clay. We are vessels.

He loves us so much. He loves me so much. He loves you so much.

Don't look to other people to find out what He is like. Look to Him.

And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.-John 8:32 (NKJV)

A Foundation of Grace: (Past Tense) Forgiven

Lots of times we are praying, asking God for things, when He has already given them.  Just like the woman who washed Jesus' feet with her tears.


Then one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to eat with him, and He entered the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table. When a sinful woman from that town learned that Jesus was dining there, she brought an alabaster jar of perfume. As she stood behind Him at His feet weeping, she began to wet His feet with her tears and wipe them with her hair. Then she kissed His feet and anointed them with the perfume.

When the Pharisee who had invited Jesus saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, He would know who this is and what kind of woman is touching Him—for she is a sinner!”

But Jesus answered him, “Simon, I have something to tell you.”

“Tell me, Teacher,” he said.

“Two men were  to a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. When they were unable to repay him, he forgave both of them. Which one, then, will love him more?”

“I suppose the one who was forgiven more,” Simon replied.

“You have judged correctly.” Jesus said.

And turning to the woman, He said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? When I entered your house, you did not give Me water for My feet, but she wet My feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You did not greet Me with a kiss, but she has not stopped kissing My feet since I arrived. You did not anoint My head with oil, but she has anointed My feet with perfume. Therefore I tell you, because her many sins have been forgiven, she has loved much. But he who has been forgiven little loves little.”

Then Jesus said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.”

But those at the table began to say to themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins?”

And Jesus told the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”

-Luke 7:36-50 (Berean Study Bible)

Faith is believing in the goodness, mercy and love of God. Faith is believing He loves you ridiculously and has all these good things for you.

The woman who washed Jesus' feet with her tears was not sad. She was happy. Those were tears of joy! She believed Jesus was who He said he was. She believed he loved her. She believed she was already (past tense) forgiven. The tears and the oil were an offering out of a heart of love.

The Pharisee couldn't see the goodness of God and who was standing right in front of him. But the woman could. She could see him.

And I believe that is what God wants, more than we even want it.  He wants us to see and know the love God has for us.  Paul prayed in Ephesians that we would know how "wide and high and long and deep is the love of Christ."(Ephesians 3:18)

The same mercy, grace and love present then is present now.  I pray the same prayer as Paul for all of us that we would know that love, and as that knowledge of his love for us fills our hearts, we would have a massive overflow of love for him.

To read more in the series, please join me here, at A Foundation of Grace.