Trending
Imagine being in prison. You deserve to be there. Some time ago you were handling a significant chunk of money at work and you saw an opportunity to put some in your own pocket. You almost got by with it, too. If it hadn't been for that one guy who checked the price for himself, you would have been fine. But now, here you are in prison and you know you deserve it. But you have a good friend who's known you for a long time, and he knows this is the first and only time you've broken the law. So your friend begs the Governor for a pardon, telling the Governor that you've learned your lesson and promising it won't happen again. Because your friend is from a well-respected family, longtime friends of the Governor, the Governor grants you a pardon.
Now what? Would you embarrass your friend by repeating your criminal behavior? Should you steal again so that the Governor can consider a second pardon? Do you really want to risk going back to the gray walls and bad food behind prison bars?
Doesn't sound attractive when we think about it like that, does it?
Sadly, folks make that mistake from a spiritual perspective all the time. They sin and Satan locks them up in a bleak prison of guilt and condemnation. Then Jesus obtains a pardon and sets them free — free from guilt, from fear, and from eternal punishment. But instead of appreciating the pardon, they're tempted to turn back to sin. These are the people Paul warns in Romans 6:1-2 (NIV), "What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?"
People forget that their pardon wasn't free. God didn't just decide to overlook their sin; Heaven's justice doesn't work that way. The cost of the pardon? Jesus took our penalty. In a Christianity Today article, Chuck Colson wrote about visiting a prison in Brazil run by Christian men. The inmates smiled, living spaces were clean and Bible verses decorated the walls. The prisoners told Colson that there was only one convict in solitary confinement and asked if Colson would like to spend time with that man. They walked Colson to the solitary cell, opened the cell door, and Colson was confronted by a Crucifix. The inmates said, "He's doing the time for the rest of us."
Satan isn't stupid. He doesn't want us to think much about the price of our pardon or to contemplate the real loss we'd incur in a return to the prison of guilt and fear. Instead, Satan paints an attractive picture of the pleasure we'll have if we choose sin: "That girl understands you so much better than your wife does; she'll make you truly happy." "The company wastes more money in a day's time than you're taking from them and besides, you've worked hard. They owe you." "You need those drugs. They'll loosen you up and help you handle the stress. It's not wrong to want to feel better, man."
Satan also convinces us that God's rules are restrictive and unrealistic, and he makes the forbidden attractive. Satan uses our innate desire for freedom and independence against us; he knows we chaff against rules. In his book, Confessions, Augustine confessed to stealing pears from a neighbor's orchard: "They were nice pears, but it was not the pears that my wretched soul coveted, for I had plenty better at home. I picked them simply in order to become a thief...the desire to steal was awakened by the prohibition of stealing."
In Romans 7:18-24, the Apostle Paul affirms that he is sometimes tempted to return to a life of sin. Paul admits, "What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death?" Paul then answers his own question with the first verse of Romans 8: "Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death." The same Savior who sets us free from prison can help us avoid the return, if we'll trust him to show us what's best instead of listening to the Devil. Remember, the Devil lies. Satan doesn't care about our happiness!