Hannah walks ahead, and I step across the threshold into the prison complex. She’s been here before to teach English to a group of inmates who are up for release in a few years, but this is my first time. I don’t know if you call it a vision, but as I walk in, there’s a picture in my head. Jesus is standing outside a cell, and I walk past him, go into the cell, close the door with the iron bars, and sit down. He’s looking at me, clearly confused. And I just sit there. Then Galatians 5:1 comes to mind.
“For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.”
Christ has set us free from the curse of sin and from trying to live under the law. Why do we voluntarily go back into places of bondage? Is it because it’s strangely comfortable – the routine, the lack of decisions/responsibility, the structure, our needs being met (even if it means learning to live on less)? Is it because we’re afraid of failing with our freedom – not being able to figure out life on the outside? Do we think that’s the only way we can survive? It’s probably some of all these things, but the reality is that Christ didn’t die to set us free so we could go back to the things that enslave us. It is for freedom that He set us free!
Jesus unlocked my cell, and I left for a little while. I went around and checked out life on the outside, but then I went back, like I didn’t know what to do with this newfound freedom. This isn’t just a one-time occurrence. It’s a pattern. Instead of asking Him why He freed me, I walk back into the cell. I return to my cage, but Jesus didn’t set me free so I could occasionally wander outside of the cell and taste freedom. He wants me to live in freedom.
And not just me. Jesus wasn’t just waiting for me to step outside my cell so I could be free to run around and do whatever I want. He is asking for my help. He’s standing there holding the keys, and He wants me to go with Him to unlock the bars and the chains that are holding others captive. But first I have to leave my cell. Christ has set us free so that we can now go share that freedom with others.
Jesus is leading a massive jailbreak! The question is whether you are going to sit in your cell or step out, take the keys, and start leading others into the freedom you’ve found with Him.
*Photo by my teammate, Blair Grace Guerry
