What happened to Barrabas

i started thinking about the Crucifixion of Jesus this Sunday.... actually i started thinking about Barabbas. According to the gospels, it was customary for the Romans to release a Jewish prisoner during the Passover festival. The Roman governor Pontius Pilate tried to use this custom as an excuse to release Jesus. But a crowd in the courtyard demanded that a prisoner named Barabbas be freed instead, and Pilate eventually gave in to the pressure. Thus Barabbas was released, and Jesus was crucified.

And I wondered... Whatever happened to Barabbas? I mean his life was spared while Jesus was scourged, tortured and hung on a cross. I wonder if Barabbas ever realized who Jesus was? I wonder if he realized what he had been spared? Shouldn't he have lead this amazing life, once he realized what had happened? Shouldn't he have had this radical change in how he lived?

In so many ways, we are like Barrabas. We've sinned or fallen short. We deserve a punishment. We earned one. We continue to earn them. We continue to go astray. But just like Barrabas, we have freedom, because Jesus took our punishment. It is finished, there will be triumph for those who live for Christ.

So why don't WE live radical lives of POWER and FREEDOM??? I'm not sure what is wrong with me, but I'm going to change it... I'm not going to live some life bogged down in other people's ideas of who and what I should be. I'm not going to worry if my fingernail polish is chipped, or I have a wire or two hanging out my van. I'm not going to spaz out over not getting all As. I'm not going to stress if my kid wants to wear a leotard and tutu to church, I'm not even going to get in a tizzy because my child has cut his hair again. I'm only going to look to one person for approval... and that's God. I know He's working lots out in me, sometimes with me kicking and screaming and running in the opposite direction, but let's face it I NEED LOTS of WORK!!! I'm a fixer-upper... lol... I heard someone say a while back that the SAME POWER that ROSE JESUS from the GRAVE lives in YOU... WoW, that is powerful stuff... So you know what, I'm gonna remember what Jesus did for me, and I'm going to claim that power, and I'm going to live a radical life and one day,I'll die a triumphant death :) Thank you Jesus!