In John chapter 8 Jesus is talking to Jewish believers. There is a series of disputes that He is addressing with them. Jesus begins to talk to them about sin and how they must be careful not be become slaves to sin. They take exception to this because of their Jewish roots – surely because they are descended from Abraham they aren’t enslaved right?

Jesus’ response to them caused me to think a lot today.

Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. I know that you are Abraham’s descendants. Yet you are looking for a way to kill me, because you have no room for my word. I am telling you what I have seen in the Father’s presence, and you are doing what you have heard from your father.” John 8:34-38

I am not a Jew and so I don’t carry the baggage nor require the mindset shift these listeners would have to but the statement Jesus makes is just as challenging to me as it would have been to them.

Do we have room for His word?

The ‘word’ He is referring to is the spoken or written word. In the context of Jesus, He’s more likely referring to the spoken version but for us it’s both. Either way the question is challenging.

As people we all have something in common, whether we are a president, preschooler, or pauper. Time. It doesn’t matter what we do we all get the same amount of time in every day; 24 hours, or 2460 minutes, or if you like 86400 seconds. The thing that sets us apart from each other is what we do with the time we share. What we make room for shows us our priority, it shows us the things we value most. Watch how we spend our time, our free time anyway, and we’ll see what we value most. Time matters.

Of course Jesus isn’t simply referring to a quantity here, making room also refers to accepting and if we accept His word it should have an impact on how we live our lives. I could spend 24 hours a day, 365 days a year and not accept it or live any differently because of it. I know people who can recite the bible backwards and forwards but the fruit of their lives look nothing like Jesus, and I know people who could tell you little ‘academically’ about it but reflect Jesus beautifully. Which one has made room?

We’ll maybe debate that one another time but to finish let’s ask that question one more time.

Do we have room for His word?