January 9th, 2020

One of my favorite movies, is “The Shawshank Redemption”. And while there are all kinds of amazing scenes, one of them that always sticks out to me is when one of the inmates, finally gets out of prison. He has been in prison for 40 years before he is paroled. After he gets out, things are completely different, but as the narrator, he describes what is going on in his mind, and he begins to describe the excitement he feels. He describes it as a mix of fear, and anticipation, as excitement only a free man can know. But even saying that at times he thinks about committing a crime, just so he can go back to what he has always known. And as I think of that scene, I am always reminded of the choices we have to make. Granted, we may not have been in prison, but we have somewhat of the same choices in life, when it comes to change, and changing out lives. The fact remains that it is hard to change, but the hardest part is deciding to change. Many times, we convince ourselves that the easier route is to stay where we are, to stick with what is safe, to what we know. We worry that we won’t be able to finish what we are starting if we change, we worry that we won’t know how to act if our life is different. It’s like walking out of a dark room, into sunlight. It hurts our eyes, it makes us squint, and in that moment, we have a decision to make. We can turn around and go back to the dark room we just came out of; the place that our eyes are accustomed to, the place that we know. Or, we can stand in the light, we can let our eyes adjust, we can accept the discomfort for a moment, knowing that in a moment, we will be able to see better than we ever did in that dark room.
You see, Jesus calls us to step out into the light, into His Light. He calls us to leave our old life behind, and be transformed into a new creation. And while that sounds wonderful, and beautiful, the truth is that it also scares us. To give up control, to put our eternity in His hands, to live in a way that is counter intuitive to what the world teaches? That’s a little unsettling, but it is the best decision we will ever make. But the first step in beginning that transformation is to commit to change. To make the decision that we are going to stand in the Light, and let our eyes adjust, so that we can see more clearly than we ever have before. To choose to step into the freedom that He offers, no matter how scared we may be at the time. Knowing that God only wants for us, what we would want for ourselves… if we knew everything He knows. (Which BTW, is EVERYTHING!)
But no matter what, remember… Jesus Loves You!