What’s in the Jar?

I don’t know if this is true, but I’ve heard it many times in my life. Do you know how to catch a monkey? You take a jar that has an opening just big enough for the monkey’s hand to fit in and you mount the jar to a tree. Then put a piece of fruit in the jar and wait. A monkey will come along and reach in and grab the fruit. Whereas its hand fits in the jar, now that it has made a fist around the fruit, its hand won’t fit to come back out. The monkey won’t let go of the fruit and so its hand stays stuck in the jar. It’s not the jar that actually traps the monkey, it’s the fruit that he won’t let go of that keeps him there.

How often do we feel like we are trapped in sin, but really it’s us who are unwilling to let go of something? Letting go of a relationship, letting go of control, letting go of a coping mechanism, letting go of anger, letting go of worldly things. I believe that many of us, when we talk about Jesus freeing us from our sins, we think of him coming along and breaking the jar so that we can be free AND still have the piece of fruit that got us trapped in the first place. But really it should be more like Jesus comes along and tells us “Let go of what’s in the jar. I have what you really need.” Having faith in Christ doesn’t allow us to indulge in whatever we want, but rather to trust him to provide what we really need. Faith in Christ frees us.

What is it that you are holding on to that Christ is saying “Let go of what’s in the jar. I have what you really need”?