Sherry had grown up in a hard life. It seemed like every time she turned around, she somehow got the short end of the stick. Her father had walked out on their family when she was very young. Her mother had done her best to care well for her and love her. But her mom had to work so much that Sherry was often on her own and lonely. Growing up, Sherry didn’t have many friends. She tried to be a good friend but she wasn’t one of the popular kids and didn’t get included very often in social gatherings. There were a few boys that she had dated over the years but they couldn’t hold up to having a real relationship that Sherry craved so much. Sherry had worked very hard in school but couldn’t afford college. She took the first job that offered her full-time employment. It seemed like maybe things were going to be okay and she would be able to develop a career. However, her role with the company turned bad when federal agents raided the company she worked for and arrested her in the process. Sherry spent the next five years in prison because she could never prove that she was not just the fall girl for the illegal activities that were happening for which the perpetrators had framed her.
Jeffrey had been working his fingers to the bone all of his life. He had grown up in a primarily blue-collar family that had taught him to work hard. He had worked hard in school, earned a partial scholarship to college and got student loans to pay for the rest. He worked through several positions, increasing his expertise and leadership abilities in each position. He worked hard to do the best job possible for each role he held. He got the opportunity to buy a business and took on the work with gusto. His hard work paid off as the business grew and his income grew with it. Then his tax bill came due. The first big bill that came due was more than he made in his first job for a whole year. Jeffrey would work hard to catch up and make the payments to the IRS but it was an onslaught of never-ending taxes, he felt. Every time he would catch up and feel like things were normalizing, his accountant would calculate his bill and the weight of his circumstances would hit. On the outside, people saw the great company and assumed (wrongly) that Jeffrey was living the good life. Instead, he was swimming in debt and IRS levies.
James was a hardened criminal by the time he turned 16. He’d been involved in dozens of robberies and was connected to a murder. In his 20s, he was not only “connected to” a murder, he actually carried one out himself. By the time he was in his 30s, his “street cred” amongst other criminals was near legend status. His crime patterns grew more depraved and heinous. His own family had long ago disowned him even though he still cared for them in his own way. James, however, was on his way to leading the largest crime syndicate in his area of the country. City, state, and federal agencies had him on their watch lists waiting for him to make the wrong move, but he seemed to always be a step ahead. . .until it all came tumbling to the ground. James had arranged for a bank heist that included him and his crew. Things went bad, though, when his own grandmother was in the bank that day and without realizing she was there, he decided to make an example out of someone in the group. In the haze of the moment, he turned and shot the first person that was in the path of his gun only to realize too late that it was his own grandmother. When he saw who it was, he crumbled. The rest of the crew fled the scene leaving him behind when he wouldn’t/couldn’t leave. As police arrived, they took him into custody without the least resistance. He was broken as he watched his grandmother die in front of him as a result of his own crime. He had murdered his own grandmother.
Cicely had grown up with everything she wanted and then some. Her parents came from money and had made millions more. She’d always been in the popular crowd in school, went through the top universities through her graduate programming, and landed a great job. She had met a really great guy in college and they had married shortly thereafter. The two were the picture of young and upwardly mobile in their own right. She was a sensation at work and was loved by nearly everyone, known for her caring nature. It seemed she had everything. But a nagging feeling was growing in her. Something was missing. As the years went by, the feeling only grew and turned into depression. Nothing could help her shake the feeling: not promotions, extravagant trips, having children. . .nothing. Her husband sensed it and grew increasingly concerned. She began anti-depressants at the request of her doctor. . .and then moved on to more illicit “medications” when those didn’t seem to help. Nothing she did seemed to help and her life crumbled around her.
What if, in each scenario above, someone stepped in to fix everything, to make it right? What if Sherry was cleared of the crime and restitution was made? What if Jeffrey had his IRS bills forgiven for life? What if James was walked out of the prison and reconciled to his family and lived a life free of crime thereafter? What if Cicely was released from the depression and effects of drug use?
What if the consequences of your situation could be removed? Removed not so that you could do wrong things as a result (like in the case of James) but that the weight that you carried could be removed. . .what if that were a possibility?
Romans 3:23-24 says, “For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. Yet God, with underserved kindness, declares that we are righteous. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins.”
This is the loophole that we are offered. For many, we find James reprehensible and don’t want his sins forgiven. What we don’t realize, though, is that we are all James. We are all sinners and any amount of sin separates us from God. ANY amount. However, God, in His love for us, made a loophole in the person of Jesus Christ. Instead of suffering the eternal consequences of our sin, we get off because of a loophole. All we need to do is put our faith in Him and His work on the cross. It’s so simple as to be unbelievable to many. But that’s all it takes.
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