December 8, 2022 - John 8:34

Jesus to the Jews who had believed in him: “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin” (John 8:34). Shedd makes such an important observation: “In the very act of transgressing the law of God there is a reflex action of the human will upon itself, whereby it becomes less able than before to keep that law. Sin is the suicidal action of the human will. It destroys the power to do right, which is man’s true freedom.” Further, he asks, “Can any being do a wrong act and be as sound in his will and as spiritually strong, after it, as he was before it? . . . Sin in and by its own nature and operations, tends to destroy all virtuous force, all holy energy, in any moral being.”

Shedd closes, though, with this encouragement: “The Redeemer, the Almighty Deliverer, is near the captive, so soon as the captive feels his bondage and confesses it. The mighty God walking upon the waves of this sinful, troubled life, stretches out His arm, the very instant any sinking soul cries, ‘Lord, save me.’” I once heard Ernie Risinger point out, “The Savior is closer than even our finger tips. Wherever there is a cry for mercy, there you will find him.” Oh my, that is good news!

I heard the voice of Jesus say,

“Come unto me and rest;

lay down, O weary one,

lay down your head upon my breast.”

I came to Jesus as I was,

so weary, worn, and sad;

I found in him a resting place,

and he has made me glad. --Horatius Bonar (1846)