I Am Barabbas!

“The governor answered and said to them, ‘Which of the two do you want me to release to you?’ They said, ‘Barabbas!’”
- Matthew 27:21

Many are familiar with the 1960 film Spartacus starring Kirk Douglas. A slave and gladiator who leads a rebellion against the mighty Roman army. In the face of mass execution, Rome demands to know who is the leader. Spartacus stands and says, “I am Spartacus!” In a defiant act of solidarity, his fellow warriors and slaves stand one by one and shout, “No, I am Spartacus!” Then, they are all crucified together.

It is an inspiring movie about freedom. The call of “I am Spartacus” has entered popular culture to this day. We all cherish the ideals of freedom, defiance against injustice, loyalty and honor. However, I find, when I look at my life, I’m far too often found with a different call on my lips, “I am Barabbas!”

When Jesus was arrested, He was brought before Pontius Pilate the governor. In historic tradition, Pilate decided to release one prisoner to the crowd. He offered as the choice Jesus and Barabbas (a notorious prisoner who committed murder in rebellion). The religious leaders persuaded the crowd to call for Barabbas to be released. Pilate’s wife warned him while sitting in the judgment seat to have nothing to do with Jesus, but he followed the crowd. He released Barabbas and heeded the call of the crowd to crucify Jesus. Then, symbolically washed his hands of the whole thing.

Don’t get me wrong, there is nothing more precious in my life than the fact that my Lord and Savior went to the cross to crucify my sin, once for all. Through that act He opened the door for my salvation and new life in Him. I cherish the old rugged cross.

However, I also find my self in the role of Barabbas. I’m notorious (a known bad actor who leans towards rebellion) among the people who truly know me. I don’t always do things right. And I often dread the consequences.

Luke 9:23 says, “Then He said to them all, ‘If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.’”

I often find my position drifting from being grateful for Christ going to the cross for me, to also having the desire within myself to be Barabbas and free from the consequences I deserve. I struggle with taking up the cross daily. I’d much prefer to just be released from the consequences.

What I often fail to comprehend is that in taking up the cross, I’m taking up a relationship, not a burden. I’m coming alive to the person I was created to be, rather than trying to preserve the person I thought I was.

As a Christian, “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20)

Yet, the desire to be free from the consequences of my actions pulls me back to my fleshly desires. It focuses my heart on myself rather than Christ. It aligns me with Barabbas and longing for the approval of the crowd. It stunts my ability to grow in the grace and knowledge of Christ. It hides my true identity and undermines my ability to stand. Yet, I am not Barabbas. I am a Child of God! I am in Christ!

I was in Christ on the cross. I am a new creation in Him. I have everything I need for life and godliness. I have the living Lord, living in me and desiring to live through me! Even through the worst of consequences.

While my flesh longs to be free from the consequences of my thoughts and actions, I will not cower in their shadow. I will stand and face them and declare, “I am who I am, because the Great I AM said I am and that is enough. I AM A CHILD OF GOD!”

© 2026 Warren Martin. All rights Reserved.

The Disfigurement of True Love

“We love Him because He first loved us.”
- 1 John 4:19

“When they tried to detach the skeleton which he held in his embrace, he fell to dust.” These are the last words spoken of Quasimodo in the novel by Victor Hugo, The Hunchback of Notre-Dame (1831). A novel that depicts a disfigured man of integrity in love with Esmerelda (a gypsy with a kind heart), and Archdeacon Claude Frollo (a vile man of the cloth). Frollo, obsessed with Esmerelda and being unable to acquire her, has her hung. Quasimodo eventually gains retribution by throwing Frollo from the tower of Notre-Dame. Then, crawls down into the crypt where Esmerelda’s body lays. He embraces her and dies; unwilling to let her go.

It is a story truly worthy of its fame. More importantly, it is a sentiment on a fact shared by St. Francis de Sales, “We cannot help conforming ourselves to what we love.”

The name ‘Quasimodo’ literally means ‘half-formed man’. What could be more true of all of us today. Half-formed, ever-seeking, never-knowing and bumbling about to find our way. Ever susceptible to the slightest note of kindness to fill the need of being loved. What a dangerous place to find ourselves. For truly, we conform ourselves to what we love. And, if we are not careful, what we love can disfigure us to the point of meaningless dust. What is it that we love?

1 John 4:19 tells us, “We love Him because He first loved us.” Like, but very unlike, Quasimodo, Jesus loved us first. He loved us so much He embraced our mortality. He was born among us as a man. He embraced all the trouble, heartache, struggles, hunger, want, temptation and desire we face. Yet, unlike us, He was not ‘half-formed’. He was sinless in the embracing of life.

He came to earth. Lived as a man like any other man. Embraced everything we face and more. He was beaten, scourged, mocked and crucified. However, instead of embracing His love (YOU) only to be turned to dust, He was resurrected. He brought new life. Available to all. A free gift of grace.

All that is required is that we embrace Him in return. He loved us first and conformed to our likeness to save us. Now, it is up to us to love Him. And thus, be conformed to His likeness. If you struggle to love God, you simply do not know how much God loves you.

Contrary to popular belief, we really don’t have a ‘sin problem’ in the world. We have a love problem. We love everything from sex to ice cream, money to antiques, fame to acknowledgment in our own house. We love and yet, know not what love is.

True love is found in Christ. To find that love is to conform to it. “…because as He is, so are we in this world.” (1 John 4:17) However, it is not “a” love; it is “the” love. We cannot be conformed to a partial love. It cannot be one of many. It is only what we truly love unto which we are conformed.

Are you still walking the world as Quasimodo (half-formed)? Ask yourself what you truly love. Be honest. God is big enough to handle it. He is also loving enough to overcome it. Then, set your heart anew. Focus on His love towards you. We love because He first loved us.

And when we discover His love for us, we are conformed to it. And… “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love. We loved Him because He first loved us.” (1 John 4:18-19)

Be loved today! Be love today!

© 2026 Warren Martin. All rights Reserved.

The Question Never Asked

“‘Come now, and let us reason together,’
Says the Lord,
‘Though your sins are like scarlet,
They shall be as white as snow;
Though they are red like crimson,
They shall be as wool.’”
- Isaiah 1:18

We all struggle with knowing the heart of Christ. We struggle with understanding His will for our life. We desperately want to hear His voice, and yet often feel we walk in silence. We often default to the position that He is just not speaking into our lives. But I believe that is wrong.

I believe the Lord is speaking into our lives every moment of every day. He is standing at the door, longing to sit down for a conversation. He speaks to me through His word, nature, other people, books, movies, circumstances and all kinds of things. Yes, sometimes the message is, “What are you doing? Get up and leave!” But, if we listen, and bring what we receive into alignment with God’s word, I believe we will find He is always speaking. Yet, we are rarely listening.

God called Isaiah to be a prophet and take His words to the people of Israel in hopes they might listen. In the very first vision Isaiah receives, the Lord says, “Come now, and let us reason together.” And there is the crux of the issue. We must come to the Lord. Not just to halfheartedly listen to what He might desire to say, but to reason together with Him. To contemplate, question, search, process and apply what He is speaking into our lives.

Many times I have had people make statements about how wonderful it would have been to be alive when Christ walked the earth to ask Him a question. However, we (us as a people) weren’t any better at listening then than we are now. Half of the time the disciples didn’t even understand what Jesus was saying, because they didn’t have the Holy Spirit yet.

An interesting note on this revolves around who asked questions during that period. Do you realize Jesus asked approximately 307 distinct questions recorded in the four gospels? Yet, the gospels only account for 183 questions being asked of Jesus. I don’t want to read too much into that statistic, but it definitely shows He came to reason with us more than we come to reason with Him.

And I think the same is true today. We often walk in ignorance because we fail to go to the Lord and reason with Him. We are too busy. We have other pressing matters. Sometimes we are just haunted by our past: shame, guilt, failure, etc.

I challenge you this week to read 2 Peter 1:2-8. It details how we are to grow in the grace and knowledge of Christ. And it concludes with verse 9 saying, “For he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins.”

The call in Isaiah still stands for us today. If you desire to experience the Lord speaking in your life, He says, “Come now, and let us reason together!” We want the answers, but are we willing to go to the Lord with the questions? Our hearts will never be open to the answer of a question never asked. So, ask! And listen!

© 2026 Warren Martin. All rights Reserved.

The Sky is Falling: Buy Toilet Paper!

“There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.”
- 1 Corinthians 15:44

Every age in history has those moments when it seems the sky is falling and destruction is upon us. What is to be our response?

Buy toilet paper!

The first great run on toilet paper came in Japan in December 1973. The world-wide oil shortage led to all out panic. In Japan, consumers were buying as much as a year’s supply of the white sheets of cleansing. Johnny Carson made a joke about it on “The Tonight Show” and the panic spread to the United States.

We have had several runs on toilet paper since. Most recently, under the looming shadow of COVID. We once again saw empty shelves almost as blank as the masked faces of the needy consumers standing before them. I could detail many more instances, but I’m already on my second sheet, and you never know when you will run out.

But why toilet paper? You don’t have to have toilet paper to survive. It doesn’t save a life. It doesn’t feed a family. It is not even very good for treating a wound. All it is really good for is blowing your nose or cleaning your derriere! And there are other ways to do both!

However, I think it speaks to a higher calling. In the same way young children (and adults) find so much humor in passing gas, belching, body parts and sexuality. It comes from embarrassment that we are dependent on all of these for life. Let’s be honest, we are embarrassed by the fact we have a temporal body that requires crude processes. And we will make a run on the grocery store to try and avoid any further degradation we might have to suffer.

C. S. Lewis wrote in Reflections on the Psalms (1964) about how humanity is regularly surprised by the circumstances we find ourselves in, “It is as strange as if a fish were repeatedly surprised at the very wetness of water. And that would be strange indeed: unless of course the fish were destined to become, one day, a land animal.”

His point was that we ARE meant for something more. We find ourselves surprised by our circumstances because we were meant for more than this temporal world. We are embarrassed by our own bodily functions because we were meant for more than this temporal body. We are humiliated by our weaknesses, failures, ineptness, neediness and limitations because we were meant for an eternal perfect world. We were never meant to find satisfaction in this world, because we have a greater destiny before us.

No amount of toilet paper will clean up the mess and make a world where humanity can find satisfaction. It might give us comfort for the moment. It might make things easier. It might play to our sensitivities and help hide our embarrassment, but it won’t solve the conundrum of humanity: satisfaction can not be found in this mortal vessel. It can only be found outside this temporal world in Christ. Because, at some level, we all know that, we are embarrassed of the frailty of mortality.

When the sky falls, we can make a run on toilet paper. Or we can focus on who we are in Christ. As Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 15:44, “There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.” We get to chose which one we will live for this day. Flesh or Spirit. Only when we live for the Spirit will we find satisfaction in our lives. It is in the Spirit we are a “chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people.” (1 Peter 2:9)

© 2026 Warren Martin. All rights Reserved.

Old Dry Bones

“…work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.”
- Philippians 2:12-13

I have, in my vast collection of stuff my children will struggle with when I’m gone, a mammoth tooth. It came from my Grandad. He was an engineer/bridge inspector for Santa Fe Railroad and during the installation of a new bridge they came upon a site that contained mammoth remains. He did the right thing and reported the find. In gratitude, the authorities allowed him to keep a tooth from the find. It speaks to life on earth that once was and is no more. But what about life that is not, but could be?

Ezekiel 37 is an extraordinary account where the prophet is caught up by the Spirit of the Lord and taken to a valley filled with old dry bones. As the chapter states, they were “very dry.” Ezekiel is asked by the Lord, “‘Son of man, can these bones live?’ So I answered, ‘Oh Lord God, You know.’” (v. 3)

Ezekiel is commanded to prophesy to the bones, “O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord!” And before his eyes and ears a rattling of bones began, and they were joined together. Sinews connected them and flesh covered them. He was commanded again to prophesy breath into them, “Thus says the Lord God: ‘Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they may live.’” (v. 9)

The Lord then tells Ezekiel to take what he has seen and prophesy that God says, “I will put My Spirit in you and you shall live…” (v. 14)

Many people fear verses like Philippians 2:13 which calls us to “work out our own salvation in fear and trembling;…”. However this should have more to do with awe and respect than questioning and doubt.

What we often miss in Philippians 2:12 is it doesn’t end in verse 12. It has a semicolon at the end, meaning clarification of what I just said follows. And in verse 13 we are told, “…for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.” In other words, what we are to “work out” is what God “works in”!

We are the old dry bones of Ezekiel’s vision. There should be fear and trembling. The fear of never experiencing eternal life. Insuring that we do. The trembling of our old bones being brought together. The fragmented pieces of the life we have lived and messed up being worked together for our good (Romans 8:28). And the new life we have breathed into us by the Holy Spirit to make us new creations (2 Corinthians 5:17). It should make us tremble. It is one of the few times we can actually utilize the word “awesome” in truth.

The problem is we tend to focus on what we are “working out”, when what we are called to focus on is Christ “working in” our lives. If what we are doing is not an out-flowing of what Christ is working in our lives, then there should be fear and trembling because it will never meet God’s standard.

In fulfillment of Ezekiel’s prophecy, through “fear and trembling” and awe, God is able to rattle the bones, bring them together, connect them, clothe them in flesh and breath new life into them. We only have to respond to God’s word. God works in us to give us new life. He works in us to make us complete for His good pleasure. Working out our salvation is simply working out what God has worked in to our lives. Allowing the living Lord to live through our lives.

It is not working out “how to be saved,” but rather working out the fact that you are saved. Working out what He has worked in! Allowing His work to transfer from within us to the world around us. Allow the living Lord to work out what He is working in our lives. Truly the only word that can capture that in any way is AWESOME!

© 2026 Warren Martin. All rights Reserved.