Living a New Life

Recidivism is a huge problem. The tendency of a convicted criminal to reoffend, according to the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics, is high. In a study of 405,000 released prisoners in 30 states, 68 percent were arrested for a new crime within three years of their release from prison. Three- quarters (77 percent) were arrested within five years. (The study tracked arrests, not reimprisonments.)

In another study by the Pew Center on the States, about 43 percent of prisoners released in 2004 were sent back to prison in 2007. Only marginal improvements have been made to rehabilitate ex-cons in the last ten years, even though spending on programs has increased from $30 billion to $50 billion annually.

Imagine a church that teaches that if anyone is in Christ, that person is forgiven, but he is still the same old person. His old life has not changed, and he ends up right back where he started. Yet millions buy into this cheap form of grace and fall back into the prison house of sin. The apostle Paul explains, “Do we then make void the law through faith? Certainly not! On the contrary, we establish the law” (Romans 3:31). God wants to write His life-giving law on our hearts—not remove it (see Jeremiah 31:33).

There is no question that “by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God” (Ephesians 2:8), but Paul continues that “we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works” (v. 10). God has not only saved us from the results of sin but has empowered us to live free from the bondage of sin. “Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage” (Galatians 5:1). Do you really want to go back to prison?

Apply It:

Have you ever visited a prison or jail (or perhaps been put there)? How did it feel when the gates and doors closed behind you?

Dig Deeper:

Jeremiah 29:11; Ezekiel 11:19; Ephesians 4:22–24

Key Bible Texts

Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. (2 Corinthians 5:17 KJV)