Without Bars and Guards

Allan W. Miller Sr.

I was raised in a conservative Mennonite Church in which external evidences of being a Christian were strongly emphasized. For instance, I thought wearing a tie was a sin until I attended a Mennonite school in Kansas and found campus student leaders and vibrant Christians wore them. I joined the Church of the Nazarene in the early 1940s and found the same type of emphasis on external evidences.

In my years as pastor I believed that I had been taught in college and seminary that I should preach denominational distinctives, doctrine, and theology. This failed to express what freedom a person could have in Christ as He promised in John 8:31-32 where He says: "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." Christ tells us in John 14:6: "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."

Over the last eight years I have had a prison ministry in which I have worked with thirteen prisoners in state and county facilities. In working with them I have found that a person can have a wonderful freedom that is not hindered by "bars and guards."

This helped me realize that there are many professing Christians sitting in church services that are prisoners without "bars and guards" because of the unscriptural attitudes and beliefs in the externals of Christian living. I know--I was there once.

When one understands that being Christlike is following what He said are the two greatest commandments, loving God with all your being and loving others as yourself, one gives Him the chance to free them from the externals which can be restrictive and come to a freedom in Christ which is true holiness. There will be external changes in a person's life, but these changes come because of the transformation of the inner life and not just obeying external or cultural rules. This, to me, is real freedom in Christ.

As I minister to those in prison, in a long-term health care facility, and others, I find purpose in helping them find freedom in Christ so that they become living examples of what He wants in the lives of those who are called by His name.

In their book, Relational Holiness, Thomas Oord and Michael Lodahl express the truth that Christ is to be our standard. They write: "Being Christlike actually means living lives of love. Christlikeness is love in action. "Jesus is our love model. He is not a mad scientist intent on making clones of Himself. We imitate God when we imitate Jesus, and this means living lives of love. Christlikeness is love in action."

Letting God's love fill us completely does not leave room for being a prisoner in living. We can have freedom in Christ that will help us live like He lived and attract pre-Christians, helping them come to Him and find the same freedom.

Allan W. Miller, Sr. is a retired Nazarene elder, a chaplain, and a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

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