PerryDox – BeJustAChristian

Prison – not a pleasant subject, but nevertheless still a former or current reality for some believers.   Others – never imprisoned – should have been, but escaped their proper penalty due to either God’s gracious attention or man’s negligent inattention.  Most, if not all, of us are nevertheless in prison – and that is the true reality – but sadly and shockingly we don’t see the emotional or spiritual shackles.  We feel no restraints or restrictions.  Our prisons are personal and preventable, not political or criminal.  And sometimes that which is not so easily seen is all the more binding, for the simple reason that we cannot be freed from that which we do not know binds us.

Paul experienced real prison with real shackles; but not for a real crime.  He was a prisoner of (and for) Christ Jesus (Philemon 1:1).  Preaching the gospel led to his bondage.  Paul, even though shackled by chains, remained amazingly free; free spiritually, emotionally, and psychologically.  Not being inwardly restrained by his outward chains, his grace-driven, inner freedom helped him remove the spiritual and emotional chains of sin and hurt imprisoning others.  How? He did not have any enslaving sin or hurt within himself.  He was free despite his chains.  That story is told in the letter to Philemon.

But let’s leave Paul’s prison and go back to our prisons.  How many times do we let our prisons keep us shackled?  What are our prisons?  They are many and varied.

Prisons in the Past:

Nothing has occurred in our past which does not shape us today – whether good or bad.  That is especially true for those having suffered childhood traumas, and adult tragedies.  Some of us have holes in our hearts which have never healed.  We are empty, and need to be filled.

Those who ignore their past and the horrors possibly associated with it, are unwarily imprisoned by their own fear to face their fear; shackled by their own hurt from being hurt; and ultimately, chained from being who they truly are by their own selves.

Then there are those who acknowledge the pain, but refuse freedom, choosing instead to remain in bondage to chains they see, fearful of a freedom they cannot see.  That old emotional prison is comfortable because it is known.

And finally, and thankfully, there are those who decide to break the chains of their past, to remove the pain by removing the shackles of hurt and anger.  The key is forgiveness.  Forgiveness sets us free, just as it set Paul free.  Why?  Because forgiveness is sending away the pain (one of the Greek words for forgiveness means to “send away”)

Can our past experiences with and in “religion” also keep us in bondage?  Have you ever noticed that you can tell which building is a prison by looking at the windows?  They are smaller than normal.  Smaller windows equals less light.  Hmmm, the smaller our biblical windows, the less light from God can get through!

• When we read the Bible, are we really reading God’s words, or only what we think the Bible says?
• Can God’s truth be seen through the perceptions we grew up with?
• Do we presently believe what we believe because of God, or do we believe because of our past religious traditions?

John 8:32 – “and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.”

Prisons in the Present:

I don’t personally know anybody who purposely puts themselves in prison, do you?  I’ve heard stories of juvenile thugs committing murder, hoping incarceration so they can get their “street cred.”  But those of us trying to be part of “polite society” don’t understand such thinking…and yet…

Hardly a day goes by that something negative does not happen: cut off in traffic; children misbehaving; employer chews us out, or whatever happened to you already today.  The list is endless.  Anger can imprison us.

Then there are the positive things that don’t happen such as deserved praise not being given; being overlooked again and again; the void of emptiness not being filled by goodness.  Resentment can shackle us.

Then there are the life-changing events: cancer is discovered; a loved-one dies, and so on.  All of these actions (or non-actions) present to us choices – How do we react?  Herein are the prisons of the present where we choose to lock ourselves up.  These emotional prisons are of our own making, since we choose how we react – or least how we will continue to act – to some wrong done to us.

Some present prisons are:

• Holding a grudge, especially when the offending party has asked for our forgiveness.
• Being unorganized which ironically keeps us extra busy, while being organized keeps us freer to do God’s work.  How often do we find that we do not have the time to do some good work?
• Jobs, hobbies, children, parents, husbands, wives, school, (you name it), anything that takes away the time we should devote to God, His church, His good works, improving ourselves spiritually – without neglecting our responsibilities given to us by God.  Paul was in a prison that he could not leave at 5:00 pm, yet he forgot his troubles long enough to help a friend.  Yes, we need to handle our responsibilities; but no, we cannot use our responsibilities as an excuse to imprison us from obeying God.

What about sin in your life?  Romans 7:24 – Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?

We can even think ill of God and blame Him by misplacing our anger, by thinking He has imprisoned us!  Lamentations 3:7 – He has walled me in so that I cannot go out; He has made my chain heavy.   

Prisons in the Future:

Decisions made today either free us tomorrow, or imprison us.  The word “consequence” literally means “to follow after.”  Every decision, whether good or bad, has a consequence.  There is no such thing as an isolated action, decision, or thought.  That is such a hard concept for children to learn, and I don’t think we adults do much better.  For example, grades in school can either free us or imprison us – in the future.  Deciding to forego or to follow educational possibilities can put us into bondage – in the future.  Who we date can either free us or imprison us – it is impossible to marry the wrong kind of person if we don’t date the wrong kind of person.  These are just some everyday actions.

But more importantly, there is an eternal existence.  Decisions made today – do they lead us to eternal freedom or to eternal imprisonment?

Revelation 20:1 – Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand.

Are we free? 

John 8:36 “So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.

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This entry was posted by PHall on Wednesday, September 30th, 2009 at 1:28 pm and is filed under John, Philemon. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.