Why the truth isn’t setting free some who profess to follow Jesus …

Why is today’s Western church so weak?

Why do the lives of so many professing Christians lack peace, appear chaotic, and are as overwhelmed by life as anyone else?

Why is it that the truth doesn’t seem to be setting free so many who claim to follow Christ? After all, didn’t Jesus promise us that’s what the truth would do?

“Jesus said to the people who believed in him, ‘You are truly my disciples if you remain faithful to my teachings. And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free,'” John 8:31-32.

The truth certainly can set you free, but what are you doing with the truth?

A primary reason why, in the twenty-first century, so many who claim to follow Jesus don’t seem to be set free by the truth is because of their disregard of the truth in favor of their own opinions crafted from their desires. In 2022, personal opinion is one of the most cherished, most worshiped idols.

“I don’t think Jesus wants me to be unhappy …”

“I don’t think Jesus wants me to be alone …”

“I don’t think Jesus wants me to suffer …”

“I don’t think Jesus wants me to miss out …”

“I don’t think that’s what Jesus meant …”

“I don’t think God would mind …”

So flow the unreasoned, and wholly unbiblical, excuses so often offered today for dismissing the truth in favor of some opinion a person holds … an opinion they hold as being superior to what the Bible clearly teaches us.

So what many people today are doing to the truth looks like this:

The first mistake they make is not receiving truth as truth, but rather as just another source of “information.” From that position, they may actually give intellectual assent to some scripture – that is, intellectually agreeing that, “Yep, that’s true,” but doing nothing more with it than acknowledging it is truth.

There’s no application.

No submission to, no yielding to, no embracing of — no obedience to — the truth from God.

No “doing” from the teaching.

Even truth will fail to set us free if we disregard it. This is what truth should do in our lives, from the inside out:

God’s truth is powerful, it convicts us of sin, and it empowers us to discern what is good and right, kind of like this:

“For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires,” Hebrews 4:12.

“All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work,” 2 Timothy 3:16-17.

When the truth convicts us or illuminates the truth and God’s direction for us, we’re immediately in a place of decision — what will we do with the truth? We either obey it, or disobey it. The Bible implores us to obey the truth of God:

“But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves. For if you listen to the word and don’t obey, it is like glancing at your face in a mirror. You see yourself, walk away, and forget what you look like. But if you look carefully into the perfect law that sets you free, and if you do what it says and don’t forget what you heard, then God will bless you for doing it,” James 1:22-25.

“Remember, it is sin to know what you ought to do and then not do it,” James 4:17.

God’s truth is to be lived out, from the inside out of our lives, commanding action that flows from a changed mind and heart that believes the truth! The Holy Spirit works to enable us to “internalize” scripture and make it the growing habit of our lives, part of the very fabric of the new character He is crafting in us that is increasingly becoming more and more like Jesus.

But if you shut that down by valuing scripture as being nothing more than “information,” or reject scriptural teaching in favor of personal opinion, then you will not — cannot — experience the freedom that truth provides.

So the big question is this: What are YOU doing with the truth?

Scotty