Starting Over

Galatians 2:15-21
From November 4, 2005

In the movie “Dark Passage,” Humphrey Bogart plays wrongly convicted murderer Vince Perry who escapes from prison. He is found by a sympathetic Irene Jansen, played by Lauren Bacall, who helps him hide out for awhile until he can connect with a plastic surgeon of sorts who will alter his appearance to help him elude the police and begin his life anew.

Who wouldn’t like to start over? Amidst the few things that I may have accidentally done right in life, there are surely decisions I have taken through the years for which I would like to have “do-overs.” Maybe I would have saved more and spent less. Maybe I would have foregone this relationship or that one and invested my time more vigorously in other pursuits, such as athletics, academics, or music. I like to think that, given the opportunity, I would select more wisely if I had the selections to make again. “If I had known then what I know now…” goes the familiar lament.

In the well-known 20th verse of chapter two, Paul writes, “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” Swapping my identity for Jesus Christ’s as I live out my daily existence--that’s better than the Federal Witness Protection Program!

In “Dark Passage,” Bacall risks being discovered as harboring a fugitive in order to give Bogie a chance to acquire a new identity and live freely without fear of his past continuing to haunt him.

On a higher plane, Jesus sacrificed Himself on the cross for each of us so that we would have the chance to receive Him as Savior. We are freed from the penalty of sin that would condemn us to Hell for eternity. Our past sins are expunged from our record so that we may live victoriously without constantly looking over our shoulder.

Why continue daily in the dreaded darkness of sin when we can choose to make the “bright passage” to God and live life in confidence according to His plan?