Have you ever been caged? Have you ever felt like you were compelled to fail? A kleptomaniac, can’t help but steal; in fact, stealing becomes his identity. An idolater identifies himself by the many gods that he worships to the point where asking him to stop worshiping gods would be the very end of who he knows himself to be. An alcoholic finds no pleasure but from drinking; he cannot control himself, drinking defines who he is. One trapped in the cage of lust finds that physical pleasure consumes their mind and they can’t control their drives; their drives control them. They are all caged. They are all compelled to slip into their same cycle over and over again. They have no hope of ever changing. They have lost their power to control their own lives.

I’ve been there, maybe not in every place mentioned, but I’ve been there. And please don’t make the assumption that I am speaking from a “before the cross” stance. Before the cross I struggled with just as much sin as I do now. See, it’s like that continual truth that if you place a man back in his same environment, the same things will tempt him as did before. You can take a child from a playroom in the midst of their play, but when you return them to the playroom, they will play with the same toys in the playroom. Nothing has changed in the room. But let’s say, for example, that you tell the child when you are outside of the playroom that all things that are red toys are good playthings and blue toys are bad. Do you think that’ll change the way they play? Sure it will. Depending on the child, they will either play with red things more often or blue things more often.

So here I am, this side of the cross, in the same playroom, and I am trying hard to incorporate more red things into my play and less blue things. But do you know what’s hard? I really got used to playing with blue toys. I really got used to foiling to temptation. I really got used to rebelling and disobeying. And sometimes, I even feel like I can’t help it. I feel like I’m caged. I feel like death has overcome me. I feel like I’m compelled to slip into my same cycle over and over again. I feel like I have no hope of ever changing. I feel like I have lost my power to control my own life. And that’s when it hits me… I have. It’s not my life. It’s not my power, but Christ’s that lives within me.

That’s why those lyrics mean so much to me…

I have died with Christ. I have risen with Christ. So because of Christ I can speak with the power and authority of Christ. I can say to the controller, “You have been defeated!” I can say to the cager, “You cannot contain me!” To the hope of ever changing, “I have changed, I will change!” To that cycle of sin, “You have been broken! You do not predict my response anymore!” To death, “You have lost! You have no power over me! You have lost!”

Truly with the power and authority of Christ in my voice,

He has, He is and He will forever conquer death… from the grave.