are you under house arrest?

I have a confession to make: blogging has not been the only "Holy Spirit urging" I have felt lately. During a recent Bible study with a group of wonderful women, I began to feel the urging to take a Bible study to a local half way house. The study we were doing is about healing, restoring, reconciliation. A message we all need to hear in our path to spiritual maturing. I have hesitated. I have tried to rationalize reasons to not go. I have even heard a little voice that says, "They won't hear what you have to say." But I've also had some reassuring moments, including a message I heard recently at church.

We went out to Black Jack a couple weeks ago and the pastor usually starts his message with some joke or colloquialism to get us all engaged in the message. This particular joke was about a man applying for job. The employer asked him about any crimes he may have committed and he ashamedly said he had some things on his record. The employer asked in return, "Well, just how many felonies do you have?" To this the applicant replied, almost excitedly, "Oh, oh no, I don't have any felonies, only misdemeanors." The pastor went on to deliver a really great message about sin. It definitely sparked ideas in my mind and it definitely was a conversation stirrer not only in our truck on the way to lunch, but also with the couple we were dining with. We ALL have sins. We ALL have things in our lives we are not the most content with from our past. We ALL have things we think we have buried sufficiently. But there is none of us better than another. "There is no difference,for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God..." (Romans 3:22-23). But the good news is that we "are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus" (Romans 3:24). Paul has a way of being wordy, so I want to paraphrase v. 24 if that's okay: We are all made right before God because of Christ's sacrifice for our life. He makes us ALL worthy of his redeeming love, no matter how deeply embedded our sin is, how "big" we think it is, or the length of time we've had it/done it. That's the "good news" of the gospel in a nutshell.

In my daily readings, I had recently come across a verse that went along with this. I was reading in Acts were the disciples had been jailed for preaching and, particularly, healing, in the temple courts. They were falsely accused of heresy or blasphemy (essentially going against the Jewish church). Here is the account:
Acts 5:17-20

Then the high priest and all his associates, who were members of the party of the Sadducees, were filled with jealousy. They arrested the apostles and put them in the public jail. But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the doors of the jail and brought them out. "Go, stand in the temple courts," he said, "and tell the people the full message of this new life."

I want to focus on v. 20 (the one in bold). As these men are leaving jail, they are given a message to go and tell! But look at the message. The message is a message of new life! The most important detail of the testimony is not "God sent an angel to free me from prison", rather it is "You can have freedom from the lies of this world through Jesus Christ!"

When we chose to repent (admit we have sin, tell God we're sorry for what we've done and begin to live our life without that sin anymore) our lives can truly be lives of freedom. We are no longer held back by the shackles that formerly held us down: lies, hurtful actions towards those around us, bitterness, envy. Some of us may feel guilty for our crimes. Some of us may feel like we haven't done anything that bad. Some of us may pretend we've never done anything that bad but have the biggest lie of our life buried inside. We may put on masks to be accepted, we may let all our sins show boldly to see if we can get the attention of someone out there. You can lie to yourself. You can lie to God, but he knows it is a lie. He knows you better than you know yourself. King David says in Psalms:

O LORD, you have searched me
and you know me.
You know when I sit and when I rise;
you perceive my thoughts from afar.
You discern my going out and my lying down;
you are familiar with all my ways.
Before a word is on my tongue
you know it completely, O LORD.
(Psalm 139:1-4)

Whether you tell God or not, He is listening, watching, and hurting. He is waiting on you to tell the truth. You're going to have to come to court and stand before the ultimate judge. Don't worry, none of us have a lawyer on the level of what we need in His court, so a lawyer has been appointed for us, his name is Jesus. He has a way of getting God to go easy on us, a full pardon for our sins. We can walk freely from the courtroom and "tell the full message of this new life". What's stopping you from confessing your sin? What's stopping you from making choices to save your life? Why are you living under house arrest when you could be dancing freely in the streets sharing his message of new life? The keys are right in front of you, but you have to choose to 1. pick them up (take Christ into your heart as a possession) and 2. use them (unlock the door to your past and move forward!).