Free

“Let it be known to you therefore, brothers, that through this man forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you, and by him everyone who believes is freed from everything from which you could not be freed by the law of Moses” (Acts 13:38-39 ESV).

In the summer between third and fourth grade my Dad was given new orders to relocate from Virginia to Hawaii. We drove across the country to California, where we would board a plane to the island of Oahu. While in California, we stayed two nights in guest housing at Travis Air Force Base.

There was a nice playground there and my sister (Happy Birthday!) and I made the most of the opportunity. As kids are wont to do, my sister, five years my younger, went exploring and got her finger stuck in a pipe that was part of the playground equipment. Ultimately my Mom used Ivory soap to lubricate her finger and the pipe enough to get her out physically unharmed.

We never discussed it, but I assume she was terrified (I think the tears were a dead giveaway!). I’m sure that we all have been in a similar situation, metaphorically if not actually. We have found ourselves in what seemed to be impossible situations. Yet somehow we have ourselves looking back at deliverance of some sort.

My sister was unable to extract her finger by herself. Perhaps it was fear of pain, perhaps just fear of the unknown. The logic of a three-year old is often suspect.

We, too, have found ourselves trapped. And unlike a finger stuck in a pipe, there was no possible way for us to escape the clutches of Sin. Maybe we tried everything we possibly could before realizing that we weren’t insufficient for the task. Or maybe we realized it right away and settled in to being caged by the prison bars of God’s Law.

There was no lubricant known to man that would enable us to extract ourselves from that cage. There was no earthly key that could open that lock. Until…. Jesus.

The suffering He endured, the death He died, the resurrection He accomplished, provided for the forgiveness of our sins! He made a way for us to find acceptance in the eyes of the Father, not through the keeping of rules, but through faith in Him. His suffering, death, and resurrection created the only key to free us from a life of imprisonment to sin and subsequent eternal suffering and imprisonment!

Faith in Christ frees us from things we don’t even realize have bound us. Jesus became the Master Key that can free us from that which holds us captive. And He became the Key to a new life in Him.

If any of you have not yet experienced the freedom that is found through faith in Christ, please contact me (email address is in profile) and I would be more than happy to walk you out of the prison doors!

Blessings on your day!