Get busy living
“I don’t want you to die, says the Sovereign Lord. Turn back and live!” — Ezekiel 18:32
“I guess it comes down to a simple choice really. Get busy living, or get busy dying” — Andy Dufresne, The Shawshank Redemption
There’s a line in The Shawshank Redemption that’s stuck with me ever since I first watched it.
It comes during a key conversation between the film’s protagonists and fellow inmates—Andy Dufresne (Tim Robbins) and Red (Morgan Freeman).
They’re talking in the prison yard about what years on the inside can do to a person—how, over time, a place like Shawshank can become familiar, even comfortable, until the promise of freedom feels frightening.
Most men can’t make it on the outside, says Red—they can’t cope with freedom after years on the inside.
But Andy refuses to surrender to Red’s bleak verdict. He shares his dream of life beyond prison—of Mexico, down by the Pacific, “a warm place with no memory” where life can begin again.
Their conversation ends with Andy’s famous words: “I guess it comes down to a simple choice really. Get busy living, or get busy dying.”
What are you choosing today?
Are you busy living, or busy dying?
Freedom—too good to be true?
As followers of Jesus, we can so often find ourselves trapped in our own ‘Shawshanks’.
Of course, I don’t mean incarceration in a physical building. I’m talking about spiritual imprisonment in our self-made cells of sin, guilt and shame.
The reality of God’s lavish, unconditional, extravagent grace can feel bewildering—frightening, even—to hearts that have spent years both sinning and being sinned against.
We find it easy to wrap our heads around notions of justice, law and punishment: do wrong, and you’ll face the consequences.
Feelings of shame, guilt and embarrassment come naturally to us. In our fallen world, these are emotions we learn and absorb from a young age. They might be unpleasant—but we get comfortable living with them.
But grace? That’s something supernatural, extraordinary, fantastic—something we can barely dream of. It sounds too good to be true.
Of course, as Christians, we know that freedom from sin isn’t just possible—it’s a reality that we now enjoy in Jesus by His Spirit (see John 8:36, 2 Corinthians 3:17, Galatians 5:1).
Even so, we can find ourselves yearning for the familiarity of our old lives imprisoned under sin.
We hold on to the guilt that God has already forgiven us by the blood of His Son, through the riches of His grace (Ephesians 1:7).
We dredge up the shame of our past that God has already plunged to the depths of His ocean of mercy (Micah 7:18–19).
We beat ourselves up with failures that God has chosen to blot out from His remembrance (Isaiah 43:25).
We submit ourselves again to cycles of sin and rebellion that, now that we are in Christ, no longer master us (Romans 6:14).
In other words, we settle for the squalor of Shawshank when God has offered us the shores of Mexico—“a warm place with no memory” of our sin or shame.
Get busy living
If, today, you find yourself trapped in a prison of sin, guilt and shame—there’s good news.
The way to freedom isn’t by working harder, doing better, or (spoiler alert) attempting a heroic attempt at self-rescue involving a tiny sewage pipe.
It is found by returning to Jesus, who is “…the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6).
Only the light of His glorious, dazzling, illuminating grace can dispel the darkness of our prison cells of guilt and shame.
Freedom is found as we lift our eyes from ourselves and gaze again on Him—trusting Him, resting in His grace, and surrendering everything to Him.
It comes by bringing ourselves again to the foot of the cross—laying our sin there, and plunging ourselves beneath the cleansing, purifying, life-giving blood of Christ that He has freely poured out for our salvation.
It is in Him, and Him alone, that we find the fullness of life, forgiveness, joy and peace that our hearts long for.
He has brought you into a spacious place—He has rescued you from the prison of your sin because he delights in you (see Psalm 18:19, NIV). His presence truly is “a warm place with no memory” of sin, guilt and shame.
Do you want to get busy living?
Abide in Jesus. Root yourself in His Word, rest in His grace, and be filled with His Spirit.
Today, I pray that you would know again the wonder of the gospel—not just as a comforting idea, but as a glorious reality that shapes and defines your whole life.
I pray that you would get busy living the life God made you for—the life of radical freedom, joy and peace enjoyed by those who know they have been forgiven and redeemed by God.
Run to Jesus—“Turn back and live!” (Ezekiel 18:32).
With love,
Mike
