Can You "Break Out"?

Where is the real person? Are we what we appear to be, or is there a hidden person hiding inside? Michaelangelo, the great artist of past centuries, has created many marvelous sculptures. In several of them, he has carved a portion of the human body seeming to be struggling to break out of the marble in which it is trapped: a hand, arm, or leg, or whole portion of the body, or a face. And the rest seems to be straining to come forth.

Sometimes I see people looking like that. They are struggling to break out of that which traps them: their jobs, their backgrounds, their cultures. Some do it beautifully. Others just look like they are trapped forever! They are unable to relax, to smile, to love life.

Like the marble statue, I cannot liberate myself. I need the hand of another. Love is the key that opens the door to the hidden you…the love of another, and especially the love of a Heavenly Father. Our Savior Jesus Christ has unbound us, released us. What was an arm, a face, a torso, striving to be released, now becomes a whole person gloriously free.

A beautiful verse from First Peter reads:

“Let not yours be the outward adorning with

braiding of hair, decoration of gold, and wearing

of robes, but let it be the hidden person of the

heart with the imperishable jewel of a gentle and

quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is very precious.”

(I Peter 3:3,4)

Some persons have their hidden selves tied up in knots of fear, bottled-up anger, resentment. Those who have been released by love have an inward freedom that is first cousin to inward beauty. Don’t be surprised. You just might win a beauty contest! Because, when Christ sets you free…you’re a real beauty!