Yesterday, I was watching an episode where Dan takes the blame for Dante's death. You don't have to know all of the details but Dante was a gambler and asked Nathan to shave some points. Nathan did not. Dante tried to run over Nathan's wife and wrecked his car. Nathan proceeds to beat Dante. Dan, Nathan's dad, takes the cover and is charged with Dante's death. Dan is in jail.
Here's the point, and I even wrote the line from the show exactly in my handy Notes section on the phone because I wanted to get it right. Dan's lawyer comes to his jail cell to announce the charges were false. Dante died on impact from the wreck and not from Nathan's punches. The lawyer gives Dan the news, but he doesn't budge. The lawyer then says, "Mr. Mayor, You're free! How does it feel to be innocent?" Dan just stood there and didn't move forward.
I feel like Dan Scott a lot of times. I stand there while the jail cell door has been flung open. I stand there with my pride and doubts and fears. What is there to fear? I can't even answer that question if I tried because the truth is - there's nothing to fear. We are inherently aware of our sin, so why would we fear the open door out of bondage.
Paul wrote to the Galatians: "It is for freedom that Christ has set you free." (5:1). I try to remind myself of this verse. We are declared innocent because of Christ. Yet, we live in such a fallen world that we want to "do" something in order to be declared innocent. We want to make our own right standing before God. It can't happen. We are so sinful that there is nothing we can do to clean it all up. Yet, God has made us free by His grace.
How does it feel to be innocent?
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