If you are free, walk out of the cell

The other day I was riding my bike past the prison, and I began to think about freedom. Freedom in Christ is a phrase I heard long before I began to understand what it meant (and I don't claim to understand all that it means now). As I rode past the prison, I knew there were men inside who would love to have the freedom to just be free, but they are confined by locks, doors and bars.
In the spiritual world, when we are in sin we are in prison. We are trapped behind locks, doors and bars that we are powerless to open. While we long to be free, we are powerless to escape, but Christ has opened the door for us. The blood of Jesus Christ has destroyed everything that keeps us captive, but we still need to chose to leave the cell.
So many people are comfortable in their little cell of guilt and shame and they are denying themselves the freedom of forgiveness and grace.
When you find yourself trapped by sin, when you find yourself imprisoned by guilt, walk out of the cell - Christ has already opened the door, He has already made a way.
John 8:36
So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.
NIV

The Bride

There is nothing like a wedding to remind you of the need for purity.
I love that moment, in the wedding, when the doors at the back of the auditorium open, and there before you stands the bride. She is all dressed in white and in her countenance you can see radiance. I love looking at the groom as he watches his bride come down the aisle, knowing that the next time she goes down the aisle, she will be his wife.
I am reminded, as I sit in a wedding, that this is a picture of Christ and His church.
Brides guard their wedding dresses, they keep them in bags until it is time, they don’t let anyone drink or eat around their dress until after the ceremony and heaven forbid a grimy handed child should come near the wedding dress. It is important to the bride that her gown be white.
As the bride of Christ, we should also care about our purity. I know that our purity comes from Him, but I also know that we are to take off the old dirty clothes of this world and cover ourselves with the new clothes given to us by God.
Colossians 3:12-14
12Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. 13Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. 14And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.
In Him
J. Tom Washburn

Goal

Recently I went to a hockey game and I found myself thinking about how God works in my life. I know what you are thinking, “how could anyone see how God works while watching hockey?” As much as I like hockey, hockey is not about big men on skates running into each other while holding a stick (club), hockey is about putting the puck in the right place so that “maybe” somebody might have the opportunity of putting the puck into the goal.
I would like to think that life is like a computer (a working computer), if I push this button, input the right data and hit that key, then I will get the result I want. Life doesn’t always work that way. My job, in life, is to press on, put myself in the right place, time and time, again so that God can use me. In hockey, control is relative. In my life control is relative, there is always an enemy that wants to take my life away, but my job is to put myself in right place so that God can use me and ultimately take me to the goal.
Philippians 3:14 “I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”
So when it feels like you are being pushed around in every direction, press on towards the goal, put yourself under Gods’ control and know that He will take you to the goal.

In Him
J. Tom Washburn