Squirrel!

There is a very fat squirrel who lives inside some razor wire at a prison. The prisoners feed this squirrel by hand and he's not afraid. He gets peanut butter, cookies and all sorts of non-squirrel food. And his life shows it. He's content to stay inside the fence and feast. He is not sleek and fast like his cousins who live outside the fence. They are too shy to trust the hand of humans. They don't understand why he stays in the prison and he doesn't understand why they don't join him. But then if they did, there would be less for him to eat. So he nibbles from the fingers of the next friendly human.

I was amazed at how quickly a wild animal becomes docile when trust is built with food. He probably started outside the fence and someone threw him a cookie or a peanut. The guys have time on their hands, so I would imagine they'd throw it a little closer to the fence...and so on and so on. It's to the point now that the squirrel is probably too rotund to fit through the chain link and too lazy to climb up it and over the razor wire. Maybe someday a kind guard will carry him outside the fence and release him back into the wild with his cousins...but would he understand that was a good thing?

Aren't we so like that squirrel? We taste a little bit of what the world is enticing us with...a crumb here or there and before we know it we too are content in our situation. (Galatians 5:19-21) We feed that sinful nature inside of us until we are too helpless to do anything about it. We wake up one morning and find ourselves inside a prison that we walked into...all by ourselves. We find ourselves with what we think are kind people--but really they are more enabling than helpful. They either bought into the lie as well or they are benefitting from our imprisonment.

What are we to do? There is actually nothing we can do on our own power. We have to rely on the One who has the keys to life and death...to our prison. (Revelation 1:17) No friendly guard for us--but Christ Jesus Himself! All you need to do is acknowledge you are trapped and ask Him for help. He is faithful and waiting for you to ask. You really don't belong there locked up in sin...take Him at His word and He will set you free. Like the squirrel, you were meant for another life...time to take a peek outside the razor wire my friend!

Christ has set us free to live a free life. So take your stand! Never again let anyone put a harness of slavery on you. Galatians 5:1