Reading: Romans 6:5-10
Reflective Thoughts
Innocent though proven guilty
Anthony Graves, a father of three, was 26 years old when he was penalized, sent to death row for murder in 1994. With no prior criminal record and no motive, Anthony was convicted when an acquaintance named him as an accomplice. The acquaintance recanted his story-but it would be 14 years before anyone would give Anthony Graves a new trial. Eighteen years later, proven innocent by DNA evidence and fair proceedings, he emerged, free from prison. Thus far, however, Anthony has not received the compensation normally given to wrongfully imprisoned people in the state of Texas. One clerical snafu has prevented it. The judge did not stamp his release order with the words “actual innocence.”
We are not like Anthony Graves. We were not falsely accused. We were under a penalty (a decree of punishment) for our sin. Unlike Anthony, Someone else actually took that penalty for us-the full degree of it. When Jesus died for you and me, we “died” to the penalty against us; meaning we were separated from it. Therefore we are no longer prisoners to it-we don’t have to obey sinful desires or live in a pattern of sin anymore. For us, there were no clerical errors-not only were we freed from the penalty, we were freed from the guilt of that penalty-our record says: “actual innocence.” In Christ, you have a clean record!