The truth will set you free

³¹To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. ³²Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."

John 8:31-32 (NIV)

The truth will set you free. That's one of those truths that I hold on to. The truth will set you free. Period. Well, no, not exactly. If you hold to my teaching... Wait a minute. We have to do something before the truth sets us free? We can't just wily-nily be doing what we want and have the truth set us free? Nope. Not gonna happen. Jesus said we must hold to His teaching. That means we must know His teaching. The verb translated "hold to" here is menō which means to remain, abide, sojourn, tarry. We must be actively living in His Word. It must be an active part of our lives. We should be reading it every day. We should be letting it affect every area of our lives. We should let it influence every decision we make. We should be clinging to it. THEN we will be His disciples. THEN we will know the truth. THEN the truth will set us free. Are you free?