Hope for the IncarceratedSample

As Christians, we are set apart. Even the most social of us, the person who connects with the highest number of people on any given day, is still considered by God to be set apart.

It is the nature of Christianity to live in two worlds at once. We live in the fallen, regular world, the one that needs the love of Jesus, AND we live in the Kingdom of God, the restored, new world where Christ rules and reigns.

Those who live by the rules of that first world tend not to like the second one very much. But that’s just what we’re in for.

Because we’re set apart through the gift of Jesus’ grace.

So what, then, can we DO with this gift of separation? For the answer to that, we can look to the Parable of the Talents, which you’ll read in just a moment. To summarize: Jesus tells a story about three servants who were trusted with a little bit of money while their master went away. Two of them used the money to get more money while the third one, in fear, buried his money. The first two were rewarded and the last one was punished.

Robert Farrar Capon has this to say about the way the parable turns out: “The only reason that judgment comes into it at all is the sad fact that there will always be dummies who refuse to trust a good thing when it’s handed to them on a platter. We spend our lives invoking upon ourselves imagined necessities, creating God in the image of our own fears—and all the while, he is beating us over the head with the balloon of grace and the styrofoam baseball bat of a vindicating judgment.”

This time is yours to give back to God. Don’t be afraid and don’t be part of the world. Follow God’s leading, set some goals, and make whatever use of this time you want. God smiles on your effort. Remember: you’re set apart.