Fri.'s Devo - Slave or Son?

John 8:31-41
Jesus continues talking to those gathered and tells them that if they actually live what he says then they will be set free. This is puzzling to them since, as Jews, they have never been a slave and thought they were free. But Jesus is talking about being a slave of sin. If you are a slave to sin then you will not always live in the house as a slave and the house will not be your permanent home, but if you are the son then the house will always be your home; the home is your inheritance and so is the slave. The house is the family of God. If the son sets the slave free then he is really free. Then Jesus tells them that he knows they are seeds of Abraham and their seed is trying to kill him because they have refused to accept his words. Jesus is speaking what he has discerned and experienced with his father and they in turn have received the same thing from their father. Jesus is referring to their father, the devil. They tell him that their father is Abraham to which Jesus says if you were Abraham's children you would do the works of Abraham. And Abraham would never try to kill someone who spoke truth. Once again he tells them that they do the deeds of their father. I'm going to stop in the middle of verse 41 because I think there is a profound truth in these verses. We have a choice to be a slave or a son. A slave serves a master out of fear or reverence which is still out of fear. A son loves a father out of gratefulness and freedom. The slave has to work to keep his job; a son freely receives an inheritance just because he is the son. So if we are abiding in the Word and obeying it we are his son. If we worship God out of obligation, fear, and are still a slave to our sins then we are a slave and will have to perform to keep our position. So which one are we? If we are a son we should be doing the works of our Father. He healed, set free, saved, loved, taught, walked in the miraculous and had an amazing relationship with God. That is our inheritance as sons. Lord, teach us to walk as sons and not as slaves to sin.