I used to read a lot of Westerns, and one of my favorite themes was the outlaw who was trying to go straight. Usually this was a good-hearted person who got in with a bad bunch, and now, later in life, wants a fresh start.
I like those stories, because, theologically, they are my story. John writes in 1 John 3:4-6, "Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness. But you know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins. And in him is no sin. No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him."
There I was, riding that outlaw trail, sinning whenever it suited me or best fulfilled my needs, and then Jesus caught me. With a big bounty on my head and a noose waiting me, my goose was cooked, but he showed me a better way, and then, when I pledged to follow him, he turned me loose.
So, now, no more law-breaking. I'm riding on the right side of the law now. I almost lost everything, so now I'm living for the One who spared me.
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