Imprisoned??

Imagine if you would a man sitting in a jail cell. He looks around him at his 6 x 10 cell and mourns the loss of his freedom. You watch as he slips into despair as he contemplates his situation. You watch as he stands and looks out the window through the bars. He looks at the walls that hold him in. He observes the sun reflecting off the razor wire that crowns the top of the wall. As he stretches to look down the wall through the limited view that he has from his cell, he notices the guard station with the armed guards just waiting for someone to attempt an escape. He begins to curse at the guards. He starts breathing out hatreds of all kinds at the walls and the razor wire that contain him. He rages as he screams at the condition he finds himself in. He wears himself out, and returns to his bed to sit and contemplate where he is. Again, you watch as he returns to a attitude of hopelessness and despair.

Then your eyes are drawn to the open door to the cell. You look and see a clipboard hanging on the bars with a document clipped to it. As you examine the paper, you notice a bright red word, "pardoned", stamped in bold ink across the length of the paper. It occurs to you that the name on the paper is the name of the man sitting on the bed just a few feet away. What do you do???

The question is rhetorical, as the answer is obvious. Who would not go over to the man and do whatever was necessary to help him understand he is a free man? Who would look at the man's situation and walk away without at least attempting to point out the obvious lack of understanding this man must have?

Yet, day in and day out, people live in prisons of their own making, and curse the bars and walls that keep them there. They move from anger to despair, from rage to hopelessness, and we watch them, pity them, "pray" for them, but do little else. Sin entangles people. Sin enslaves people. Sin imprisons people. But sin has been conquered. Sin has lost it's power. The path to freedom has been blazed by Someone who has paid the penalty, and gained our freedom. Some don't know - we need to tell them. Some know, but somehow have forgotten - we need to remind them.

What will you do with the man in the jail cell? He lives right next to you. He works right beside you. He shops in the same places. He works out in the same gym as you. Will you turn and walk away without so much as a word about his freedom?