As they sat around the prison yard, enjoying for the short moments of the day when they were allowed to bask in the sunshine and breathe the fresh air, instead of the stagnant air of the confines of their cells, the man convicted of rape said to one of the others there.
“Well, at least I’m not the one here who killed a man for sleeping with his wife.”
And the serial killer, the one who had taken the lives of many, whose cell was on death row, who called upon the Lord Jesus Christ for the salvation of his soul, who had repented in great and many tears, who knew what the grace of God is, said…
Tell me, friends of mine, my brothers and sisters in Christ who know His grace, who have the assurance of salvation, who lived good lives, agreeable lives in accordance to the world, those of you whose sins could in no way be compared to that brother in Christ of yours on death row, what would you say?
“Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little.” (Luke 7:47)
I firmly believe that the Almighty does not send His chosen into fields that they have no experience in, those places where they did not tread before He called us to Himself. The majority of the time the man that He has called to a prison ministry has sat in one of those cells himself. The woman who once walked the street fulfilling the lust of the flesh of others knows exactly what she is talking about when, after the church service, she returns to the places she once walked, searching for the lost amongst the wicked.
“For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.” (Luke 19:10)
All the lost will be found, our Savior will not lose one, but until the moment that lost soul comes to the realization, if you will, that they are one of the chosen, they will walk ground that teaches them how to reach others after their salvation for the glory of the Living God.
Who you are in Christ is not who you were before Him, but a part of you still is, and in this regard, at least in this life, you will always be.
You, because of the life you lived before He called you to Himself, can reach out to people for His glory that I could not even begin to relate to, because you have been there, you experienced what they went through, you know where they are, and you can reveal to them the way out.
This does not mean that we should not speak to all we meet about the Lord Jesus Christ and their need to repent, but some seeds are best planted by those that know the terrain, who understand the soil of that place.
Who speaks fluently to the junkie on the street, one who has spent many years studying them, or the one who once slept where they now sleep?
The greatest sinner in any regard who has been saved by grace from that sin can speak best to the one still in it. The world calls it “staying in your lane,” and my friends, there are lost souls who have taken your place in that lane today and you know what it was like there, perfectly.
“For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.” (Heb. 4:15)
The Lord Jesus Christ knows perfectly every sin, yet He was without sin. You know exactly what some are going through, you have been there. Will you show them the way out? You were once in this sense a wolf, now you are one of the sheep.
Be a good shepherd, seek the lost you understand the best.
