Escape To Love

“No one loves me!” exclaimed the hurting young man to his grandfather. “Have you ever felt this way grandpa?” His grandpa took a deep breath, and answered with a story.
“There was a boy I knew who lived in a prison cell. His cell was made of four walls, and had only one window. There were strange black letters written across each of the walls. The old man leaned forward and traced the imagined letters with a wrinkled finger, “S-E-L-F-I-S-H was written on the wall he usually faced, P-R-I-D-E was written on the wall to his right, and L-U-S-T to his left. The wall behind the boy was inscribed with the word, “F-E-A-R.” In the top of this wall there was a window, which led out into the beautiful daylight beyond the prison. The boy would occasionally look at that window and wonder at the light that streamed through it. Some days he would hear voices of people outside, and imagine their happy smiling faces. Then he would turn away from the brightness of it all, to trace familiar words like, “self-pity, self-loathing, and self-hatred, on his SELFISH wall.
One day he heard a voice calling his name. The voice was calling him to come through the window to the beautiful land beyond it. The boy turned towards the voice with a deep longing to be free welling up inside of him! But he was knocked back again and again by the wall of fear. The window was out of his reach! In disappointment he would turn back to one of his familiar walls. Lust made him forget he was in a prison for a moment, self-pity was his familiar, though depressing friend, and pride convinced him he was more down to earth then the joyful people outside the prison.
The voice never stopped calling. “Come to the window my child. Come find love, and real life.”
As the voice persisted the young man became more desperate, “What can I do? How can I escape to the window when the wall of FEAR is to high for me to climb it? Please help me!” A rope was lowered through the window, with a harness attached to it. The boy grasped the rope firmly in his hands and saw on it was written the word “trust.” As he latched the harness around his waist he saw the word, “grace” inscribed on it. When he first grasped this rope he found himself thrown against the wall of fear. He struck the word rejection inscribed on the wall of fear, and the pain of the impact knocked the rope from his hands. Fortunately the harness of grace kept him from falling far. He gripped the rope of trust again, and was slowly lifted out through the grasp of fear. As he passed through the window he noticed for the first time the word, “LOVE” inscribed above it. Suddenly he was surrounded by the most breathtaking and beautiful sights he had ever seen. The light was now thrilling his soul. His eyes came to rest on the one who had been calling his name. The man was dressed in white, and his nail-scarred hands were stretched out wide in greeting. The boy never had time to run to his Savior, because his Savior came running to him, took him in his arms, and held him close. The boy cried tears of joy at being freed from his prison walls and at truly knowing he was loved.” The story was finished, and a wrinkled hand now brushed a tear from the young man's face, and came to rest firmly on his shoulder. “Danny, you are loved by God and by many others, you've got to believe it. You've got to cling to trust when you can't feel it. You've got to fall on grace when you need it.” Then the old man stretched his other hand toward heaven and prayed, “Lord Jesus help us know your love. Your love will set the captives free! Help our unbelief! Help our unbelief.”