Monday, June 23, 2014

A Tale of Two Prisoners


Read: Hebrews 10:23-31

For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries. 
                                                                                                               Hebrews 10:26-27

     There are two young men, whom I know very well, who grew up in the same place and at the same time that I did. Both of them are in prison. One of the young men made some foolish mistakes that he wishes he hadn’t made, and he found himself behind the bars of a prison cell. As he sits there day after day, he longs for the time when he can finally be free – free to move on with life, free to breathe fresh air, and free to live outside the confines of four cement walls. The other young man lives nowhere near a prison established by the state. He has the freedom to do as he chooses. Sadly, in an effort to live life in his own way, apart from the Word of God, he has allowed the devil to entrap him in a prison of his own choosing.
     There are many young men who are enslaved within the walls of a prison the devil chose for them when they gave their lives over to him. To them, that was the way to true happiness. The devil promised them a good time. He promised them that if only they would turn their backs on what they had been taught in church their whole lives, then he would make it well worth their time. If they would only rebel against the authority God has placed in their lives, he would richly compensate them for their actions. He invites them into the room where the party is taking place, where they can live the high life according to the world’s standards. What he doesn’t tell them is that that room is the prison cell to which only he holds the key.
     The devil makes good on his promises of a good time – for a while; but then the walls begin to close in around them, and the reality of their situation starts to settle upon their lives. They have become the devil’s prisoner, dismally walking from corner to corner in their cell and doing exactly as their master bids them do. The freedom they were promised apart from authority and the Word of God has been replaced with chains of sorrow, guilt, and shame. He allows them to see the life they could be living through Jesus Christ, but alas, he holds the key to their prison cell, and he is not interested in releasing his prisoner to freedom.
     Indeed, that is the fate of those who choose to walk away from God and into the waiting chains that the devil have planned for those who choose to follow his path. Only the power of God and a return to Him can release that prisoner back into the freedom that only those who follow Christ can truly enjoy.


Quote of the day: “The devil promises you the whole world, but he doesn’t own a grain of sand.”






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