Asleep Outside the Cage {Awesome Guest Post by Lawrence J. Caldwell}

Nov 3, 2012Heal from the past

I’m grateful to have Lawrence J. Caldwell today with this sweet post that fits in so well with the metaphor for this site. He lives in Medford Lakes, NJ with his wife and three children. He writes Christian fiction and non-fiction. He blogs here. Find him on Facebook here.

We have all learned so much from Mary and her guests about Jesus setting us free and loosing us from the cage of bondage. None of us ever want to go back there. We know the horror. We know how much it hurts us, those around us, and our Lord.

Sometimes we revisit those places from a safe distance. We write so we can tell others about Jesus. We rejoice each time we read about the power of his blood to cleanse us. We thrill to each story of his Holy Spirit making a new life for us.

But then there are times when we find ourselves asleep outside the cage. At first we don’t even remember how we got there. We recoil in shock to find ourselves back so close. What happened to the “Never again.”? What happened to the “free indeed?”

Sadly, some of us do find ourselves back at the maw of the cage. It is always there, waiting to take us back in. Few would dare to admit it, but God plainly tells us that there is pleasure in sin. Undeniably, we enjoy it for a season. Thankfully, Father won’t let us in the cage no matter how much our lust draws us. He keeps us forever outside the cage. Although he lets us sleep beside it, he wants us to wake up and flee as far as we can from it.

At the moment I awake from sin beside the cage I always ask myself, “How could this be?” Father says it is because I have forgotten. I forgot about the way of escape from temptation. I have forgotten, as Peter said, that he purged me from my old sins.

God’s Spirit always nudges me to wake up but it is I who must pull myself from the slumber of sin sleep. Father tells me to “awake to righteousness, and sin not.” I have to remember Jesus. So I run to his throne and throw myself on his mercy. Not only is he merciful, but he tells me things. When my mind is right and one with him, then he can impress upon me his will.

The longer I remain awake and the further I stay away from the cage, so stronger becomes the positive effect of forgetfulness. I forget the pleasure of sin. Instead, I bask in the light of his glory and share it with others.

This is new to me. Yesterday I could only think of the power of awakening. I could not get past the power of reckoning myself dead unto sin but alive unto God through Jesus. And powerful he is! But today Father told me to remember. Stay awake. Stay alive. Stay by my side. The longer I do, the further away the cage fades. Now my only sleep is the restful abiding in Jesus.

Q4u:

What cages you? Why? What makes you fear leaving the cage? Or sleeping outside it?

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