Many people are in prison and don’t even know it – self-made prisons of drug abuse, sexual sin, greed, hypocrisy, unbelief. They think they’re free when actually they’re ensnared by the devil, “having been taken captive by him to do his will” (2 Timothy 2:26, NKJV). That’s how I was before the Lord opened my eyes to the truth and set me free in Christ.


People were no different during Jesus’ earthly ministry. The Jewish people had been chafing under Roman occupation for almost a century. Before that, they’d been dominated by Greece, Persia, Babylon, and Assyria – not to mention Egypt! Yet, when pressed to embrace spiritual freedom in Christ, they said with straight faces, “We are Abraham’s descendants and have never been slaves of anyone…” (v. 33).


Religious pride is perhaps the most subtle prison of all. We think we’re spiritually free while remaining what we all are by nature – slaves of sin. Only Jesus Christ can set sinners free to become willing prisoners of righteousness
(Romans 6:17-18, 22).