The Great Escape

One of the epic movies that my father used to watch every time it came on television was a WWII story about prisoners of war called “The Great Escape”. It starred a lot of my parents’ favorite actors, like Steve McQueen, James Garner, Charles Bronson and a host of others. The plot centered around a German prison camp and the struggles of a group of Allied soldiers as they worked and plotted to try and escape. They dug tunnels, forged identification papers, worked out transportation routes, sewed civilian clothing and hid their progress from the guards in a successful attempt to get as many people out of the camp at one time, flooding the countryside with escapees and increasing the chances of some making it back home. As much hardship as they endured in acquiring their freedom, the real battle didn’t start until they were outside the prison walls and separated from the strength and encouragement they had together while working to achieve their objective. Once they were free the biggest problem was that they were still in enemy territory! While a few made it to safety, the majority of them were recaptured or killed, producing a bittersweet conclusion to their efforts.

As followers of Jesus we find ourselves having escaped the destruction of sin in the midst of much personal struggle. While we have found the mercy of God through the blood of Jesus’ sacrifice, we’re still living in “enemy territory” every time we step out into the world. We have an enemy who knows we have escaped, and he relentlessly searches us out to find ways to nullify our ministry to others. He wants to bring us back into the prison of sin’s domination! Like a lion lurking in the shadows looking for stragglers or moments of weakness, Satan aggressively pursues and dogs our every step waiting to pounce and devour us in defeat.

The Good News is that Jesus leads His people in victory, marching us through the darkness of enemy territory while bringing light and freeing others that we encounter. This is His plan, but it requires us to learn to stay close to Him.

Learning to do that facilitates our own “Great Escape!”

How exciting to be His people,
Pastor David Vanderpool

Image retrieved from:  http://www.7thstreettheatre.com/2014/10/the-great-escape/