30 July 2013

A Voice from Behind Bars

Bee and Dahlia, Point Defiance test garden

 I turned to the place my bookmark kept for me, eyes glancing over the page to be sure I picked up at the right place.  Satisfied to begin at chapter four, I read words written not just for Christians in Ephesus, but also for me.  Paul had me at verse one.

"I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called..."  (Ephesians 4:1)

See him there?  No matter how comfortably they treated him sometimes, we know Paul suffered a great many things.  Stoned but alive to tell the story.  Shipwrecked.  Snake-bitten.  Hungry.  Betrayed by his own people.  

Does that sound like Someone Else we've heard about?

 Somewhere in the midst of his life of trials, Paul earned the right to remind us to be faithful.  From behind prison walls, whatever they looked like, he writes to Ephesus, to me, to you:

I suffer much for Jesus, but He has been worth every pain.
I can't guarantee you'll be safe, warm, or cozy, but I call you to faithfulness anyway.
Because nothing costs more than losing your integrity.
Than losing your good name as a Christian.
Than losing your conscience cleared by the blood of Jesus.
 Every other price pales in comparison with the price of losing Christ and all He offers.
Being in prison, like I am now, is nothing.
If I had to do it all again, I would still choose faithful obedience to Jesus over all things--over being well fed, over being in charge of my own life, over having my freedom.
Without Jesus, I wouldn't be free anyway. 

2 comments:

  1. So very true! Thank you for sharing your thoughts.It helps me to grow! :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. You're welcome--somehow sharing helps ME grow, too. Always glad when you stop by. :)

    ReplyDelete

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