Take Your Place!
“But during the night, the angel of the Lord opened the doors of the prison, led them out, and said,
‘Go and take your place in the temple area,
and tell the people everything about this life.’”Acts 5:19
Out of jealousy the Jewish leaders placed the Apostles in the public jail. They couldn’t stand them. They were getting tired of this Jesus business, putting up with Him while He was alive was tiring enough, and now even after He has died, they still have to hear about Him? Well, little did they know that Jesus IS alive! They put Jesus to death, but He has risen and dies no more.
Even in prison, the Apostles kept their faith. The angel comes and frees them in the middle of the night. Jesus appeared to them in the upper room behind locked doors offering them peace. Now, again the messenger of the Lord goes to them amidst the locked prison doors and frees them. There is no place that Jesus won’t go to reach us. The truth cannot be contained.
Like the Apostles, we are invited and encouraged to go and take our places and tell everyone everything about this life. Not this worldly life, but the life of the beloved. But we can’t if we choose to remain behind those locked prison doors. Maybe there is some comfort behind those prison doors. Maybe we even feel free there. But it is not true freedom. Jesus comes to offer us true freedom so that we may live and live fully and to tell others about this.
May we take the hand of the Lord as He leads us out from behind those prison doors and take our place in the world and tell everyone about living in the freedom of the children of God. There are too many people out there telling everyone about the false comforts of the worldly life. They need to hear about the free life, the true life, the eternal life in Christ. They’re waiting for you.
