Someone happened to read the blog, "Wake up or Suffer the Consequences" this morning and posed the following question to me. "I want to understand sequestered and warden. Im trying to see how this does or does not apply to my life, except,in my case I don't identify as gay, but rather as a Christian. And live my life, struggles included, as Godly as I can. Would appreciate your response when you have time." 12:28pm Here are my unpolished, unfiltered thoughts. I use the word sequestered the same way that someone might refer to a jury whose life is on hold until a verdict is reached. They are cut off from the world until a decision can be reached. When I describe God as a warden instead of a savior, this is what I mean. A savior saves us when we call on His name leads us to higher places of full redemption. The bible says that those who call on His name will be saved. I take that to mean not only salvation, but redemption from the things that bind us on a daily basis. A warden manages someone who is locked away. He brings them there meals, tells them what to do and offers them care and lodging while the person is locked away in prison. The question we must ask though, is who put them in that prison?
Are they in prison because they have done something wrong? Or are they in prison because life is scary and disappointing and being locked away is safer. When God is the warden in your life, he has set up an infrastructure of binding rules and laws that say you can't be gay and you must live your life avoiding bad "gay" things at all costs. With God as a warden, our lives are not lived out but managed to the point that we won't sin, because we have not only put GOd in a box, but we have placed ourselves in that box as well. When God is our savior, he is more of a shepherd we go to for instructions on how to get through the tough things in life we will inevitably encounter as we roam freely about. God has the capacity to save us from our sin and redeem us from a gay life. When we lock ourselves away, we are attempting to live a life that we are in control of because God didn't change us when we asked Him to and we can't imagine the unknown and difficult path of walking away from gay. When we see GOd as savior in our life, we hand over control of our life to HIm and trust that no matter what we see or think, that GOd is in control. One is sacrifice to the point of being a self proclaimed martyr and the other is being obedient and venturing out into the world. WIth GOd as a warden we build fences to keep us away from sinful things. With God as a savior, we allow Him to test us in order to build resistance muscles so we don't run after things that are bad for us. Both men more than likely are getting into heaven. It's just that one will have made it by sheer willpower and having been hidden away from all sources of temptation. And the other will have led an amazing life of obedience, filled with mountaintop and valley experiences. The latter will have lived a life full of risks and grand perspectives and will have inspired others along the way, because they will have relied on God and not themselves.