From Slave to Son

In John 8:21 Jesus, speaking to the Jews, spoke these memorable words, "If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." Those words took his auditors by surprise. They retorted that they have never been slaves, so how could they become free. Did they really need freedom? Jesus went on to explain, "Truly, truly I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed."
With these words Jesus confirmed the condition of every person's heart who has not been reconnected to the Father through faith. We are all slaves - slaves to our sinful nature that has taken mastery over us. Since the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve rebelled, the human constitution - its basic nature - has been turned in on itself. It seeks it own, not the will of its Creator. It holds all men in its power until God acts to free it!
That was the testimony of the writer of Proverbs 5:22. He clearly stated, "The iniquities of the wicked ensnare him, and he is held fast in the cords of his sin." That what sin does. It enslaves. It keeps us in a prison of our own making from which we cannot set ourselves free. So what can man do to be set free?
Galatians 4:4-7 offers the answer. "But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, 'Abba, Father!' So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God."
What man could not do, God in the fullness of time did! He sent His Son who took on human flesh to remove the slavery of guilt and condemnation for sin. This paved the way for the reception of a new spirit - a new human constitution - being placed within the believer. This new spirit, the Holy Spirit, now enables all followers of Christ to live in newness of life. It enables them to walk in freedom, no longer a slave but a son.
Believer, do you know this freedom? Do you know the truth that is centered in Jesus and has it set you free? Remember Jesus affirmed that whom the Lord sets free, they are free indeed. Rejoice in the freedom you have in Christ and as it says later in Galatians - use this freedom to serve and love one another.