Rehabilitation and probation

[Chrysostom]

You have found the Lord three months ago, and this is the greatest deliverance, greater than any prison bars could hold you, greater than any judge's sentence. For He who has loosed the sins of the whole world was Himself bound for your sake, and those divine hands that worked ten thousand good deeds were tied that you might be free. Never forget that the mercy which drew you out of darkness is the same mercy that sustains you now. God did not send His Son to condemn the world but to save it, and He who began this good work in you will be faithful to complete it.

Consider Joseph, who was thrown into prison on a false charge. Yet even there, bound and forgotten, he did not forget his virtue. The keeper of the prison, a man accustomed to cruelty, was softened by the meekness that God had planted in that young man’s soul. Joseph ruled in that prison as he had ruled in the house. The same God who gave him favor in the eyes of the keeper can give you favor in the eyes of your probation officer and the judges. And if it should be His will that you enter into that other prison, do not think that He has abandoned you. Paul and Silas sang hymns in the inner cell, their feet fastened, and the doors were opened. The three children walked unbound in the furnace. The chain that seems like a shame is, for those who love Christ, a crown more beautiful than gold. A soul that carries such chains for righteousness is a spectacle worthy of heaven. Would you rather see Paul stooping from the sky or standing in his bonds? I would choose the bonds, for there the power of God rested upon him.

Yet we do not cease to pray that mercy be extended to you. The very children of the church cry out for mercy on behalf of the penitent, and their innocent voices reach the throne. Ask boldly. He who accepted the two mites of the widow will not despise your tears. And recall that mercy is not only something you ask of God but something you now show to others. There is no pardon for him who does not do works of mercy. But you have feet to visit the sick, a cup of cold water to give, a roof to welcome a stranger, even here in this place. Show mercy, and you will receive mercy. That is the Christian's very character, and nothing astonishes the world more.

So lift up your head. You have obtained mercy, and that is why you do not lose heart. The mistake with the appointment is past; your life is now hidden with Christ. Whether the answer comes as a dismissal of the case or as a season behind bars, you are the Lord’s. He will arrange the prison or the freedom, the furnace or the dew, exactly as He knows best. Only continue in the path you have begun. The mercy that called you will not fail.

 

[Silas]

The fear of prison is heavy, I know, especially when you have already begun to see Christ reshape your life from the inside. But you have already found the only true and safe place to stand: you are casting yourself on the mercy of God, and that is never a mistake. Mercy is what we need most. Justice would give us what we deserve for every past failure, but mercy withholds that. Grace then goes further and lavishes what we could never earn. Right now, as you face judges and a probation officer, you are living in that gap between justice and mercy, and the Lord who delivered Peter from his chains in the night is the same Lord who can open doors and soften hearts today.

Remember that your cry is heard. In the days of the judges, when the people groaned under oppression, it repented the Lord because of their groanings, and He raised up deliverance. Your groaning is not hidden from Him. He sees that you are in a rehabilitation house, not hiding from your past but turning from it. Even Samson, after his own blindness and grinding in the prison house, cried out, “Lord, once more let me know Your power.” And God answered. He can take a shattered situation and work it for good, not because the situation was good, but because His mercy is so high above the earth.

Do not spend your energy fearing what you deserve. Instead, let your heart rest in this: when you sow mercy, you will reap mercy. Show respect to the authorities, be honest, take responsibility for the missed appointment, and then leave the outcome to God. We will pray that the probation officer and the judges see not just a file but a life being truly turned around, that they would be moved to give you room to continue walking in the light you have found. The material world and its penalties will one day burn, but your soul is now held by Christ, and no prison can lock away His peace. Hold fast to Him, and look for His mercy into eternal life.