Locked Inside Myself

Recently, I was preparing to go out of my apartment to run errands but as I tried to open the front door, it would  not open. I tried over and over again to unlock and lock both of the locks while also turning the door knob. After several attempts it hit me…I am locked inside my own home! After calling our complex office they sent someone to help. To no avail, he could not open the door from the outside either, so he had to use various tools to basically break off the old doorknob, which had mysteriously stopped working. Finally, the door was opened and I was set free from my own home…in a sense, I was set free from myself!

Please, take a close look at the woman in the photo that was taken recently and put on the internet. This woman is from India and she is dressed as the Hindu goddess Kali as she participates in a festival dedicated to the worship of Hindu god Shiva. That could easily be my face in that photo, or yours, or your children, or our family and friends…we could all have been, and may currently be, an inch away from being “locked inside” of ourselves forever! Our personal sinful nature manifests itself in innumerable, colorful, subtle, and dangerous ways. Whether it be Hinduism or Islam, Catholic or Baptist or Pentecostal, or our daily routine and “control,” or being overly focused on beauty or money or children or the lack of such things, or busy-ness and materialism, or unresolved emotional issues, or drugs and alcohol, or an armor of pride that “shines” as a cover-up over insecurity and weakness, or lukewarm “cozy” Christianity where “me” and “mine” are the primary focus of my “Christian” life…ETC, ETC. We are ALL locked inside ourselves in some degree in some way! How are we locked inside ourselves today?

When was the last time you did something that was legitimately beyond your human logic, beyond your daily schedule…the last time you honestly did something—or anything—outside of “yourself” and “yours” that genuinely helped another person be set free from themselves? Are you a free person, or are you locked inside yourself as a non-Christian in need of a Savior who will forgive you and set you free into eternal life? Are you a free Christian, or are you an overly “logical” Christian locked inside yourself—your cozy Jesus bubble—who is in need of a Lord who will forgive you and set you free into deeper abundant life via ministry service in His Great Commission! Jesus Christ said, “If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed” (John 8:36).

In November, our Crusade in India will proclaim freedom found in Jesus Christ to thousands of Indians just like the woman in the photo. Please, join us in prayer for their lives to be set free, radically transformed, and made new through salvation in Christ, and to then begin spiritual growth in the churches we are working with. To those of you who help this ministry reach lives with the Gospel, we applaud and appreciate you! Thank you for your help!

For freedom,

Scott Nute