I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave of sin…So if the Son sets you free, you are truly free. John 8:34,36

 

A pastor visited the town’s jail where the prisoners had been watching his church’s services online.  He wasn’t expecting what happened that day.

The demand for watching the online services in an assembly room had been so great there was a waiting list to attend. When the visiting pastor asked if any of the prisoners wanted to be baptized as a sign of their decision to follow Jesus, 24 men stood up– one even ran to the front!

Baptism is a powerful act. It represents the death of our old sinful nature and the new life we are beginning with Jesus. The prisoners knew better than most what it meant to give up the guilt and shame of a past life of sin. This was their chance to begin anew with Jesus’s love and forgiveness. Society doesn’t always offer a second chance. But God always does! His offer of a fresh beginning, complete forgiveness, and encompassing love is for everyone.

As they were baptized in a small tub, the men came up out of the water with faces of joy. “It looked like freedom,” the pastor shared. One prisoner said, “Experiencing true freedom in the midst of a place designed to do just the opposite can only mean one thing. Behind all the brick walls, razor wire, steel door, and heavy locks, [God’s] Holy Spirit has been waiting…to meet us right where we are. To set us free.”[1]     This is the freedom that transcends the circumstances of a person’s life. Jesus said in the Bible book of John, “I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave of sin…So if the Son sets you free, you are truly free” (John 8:34,36).

[1] Simkins, Ian. “It looked like freedom.” Instagram, 5 October 2023, www.instagram.com/p/CyBHAe5rLTw/?img_index=1.