John 8:31-32
31 Jesus then said to those Jews who believed in him, "If you remain in my word, you will truly be my disciples,
32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."
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When Christ calls us to remain in his word, he is calling us to obedience. Once we are faced with the Word, we have a choice to make – belief and submittal to it, or not. If we believe but we do not obey, we are caught in a kind of spiritual limbo. This happens to a lot of people. In my opinion, for men the reasons come from two places – either fear of the unknown (ie, what will happen to me, what do I have to do, what will be taken from me), or a prideful refusal to give up control.
Yet if we remain in the word (ie, obey), Christ promises us the truth, and that the truth will set us free. Some people spend years studying the word before finally coming to this point. I was one of those people. Finally I woke up and realized that the call to obedience was firm. Once I responded to this call and submitted to Christ’s authority, I was able to understand a lot more about the concept of the pursuit of spiritual maturity and the surpassing joy that can come from that pursuit.
So … I can personally testify to the truth of these two verses.
