Captured

Ephesians 3:1 For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for you Gentiles-- 2 if indeed you have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which was given to me for you, 3 how that by revelation He made known to me the mystery (as I have briefly written already, 4 by which, when you read, you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ), 5 which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to His holy apostles and prophets: 6 that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ through the gospel, 7 of which I became a minister according to the gift of the grace of God given to me by the effective working of His power. 8 To me, who am less than the least of all the saints, this grace was given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, 9 and to make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God who created all things through Jesus Christ; 10 to the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places, 11 according to the eternal purpose which He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord, 12 in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through faith in Him.

Being a prisoner of anyone is an especially unpleasant thought.

Paul really puts this into perspective, and it is his own experience that speaks loudest. Arrested at Jerusalem at the Temple, almost beaten to death, captured by the Roman guard, held in jail for years before trial, transferred to Rome, and now held in a Roman prison cell for  years without ever knowing when or if he will be released.

The Roman prison system was not redemptive, it was punitive. Since the idea was to punish the prisoners, no attempt was made at providing a comfortable living environment. In fact, you could probably say no effort was spared to make sure a very uncomfortable environment was the norm.

Poor, pitiful Paul? Not hardly. Paul writes from jail a beautiful expression of the love of Christ, in a way only someone who is IN jail could. Without self-pity, Paul writes of the LOVE of Christ – in a time when one might think he would say he had been abandoned by Christ.

But this always seems to be the story. Those who find themselves in the most trying situations find themselves more in the presence and the love of Christ than ever. What we hear over and over again, (with Paul being a prime example,) is that the more we have need, and the greater our despair, the more Christ can and will move upon the human heart to minister in the greatest depths of the soul. There are no prison bars which hold back the love of Christ.               

-  Pastor Bill