Not a Prisoner of My Circumstances {thoughts from church last Sunday}

{Ephesians 3:1}

“For this reason I, Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus…”

Last Sunday I was sitting in Church listening to Pastor Brian as he taught us from the book of Ephesians and this verse has stuck with me this week. It keeps running through my mind.

Paul was sitting in a prison pit while he wrote this (literally a big hole dug in the ground where prisoners were thrown). He was being held captive in Rome. He was a prisoner of Rome… but that is not what he says when he addresses those he is writing to. No, he doesn’t even mention Rome at all. Instead, he says “a prisoner of… Christ Jesus”

He did not see himself as a prisoner to any man- or to his circumstances. Rather he saw himself as a prisoner of Jesus. Serving God and Him alone wholeheartedly, with all his strength and with all his life. Surly if he believed everything he preached it would make sense to come to this conclusion.

He believed that God was all powerful. He believed that God could work all things together for good. He believed that trials led to increased faith and Godliness (which is more precious than gold). He believed that he was chosen by God & that God gives mercy and grace. He believed that whether he had plenty or was in want- he had all he needed in Jesus and was satisfied.

And I believe all of that as well.

But when I look at my life, do I see my circumstances or do I see my position in Christ. Unfortunately, all too often it’s the former.

What if instead of being a prisoner to pride, or anger, or frustration, or stress… we were prisoners to Jesus Christ.  Doesn’t that just loosen the chains a bit?! Who can hear them fall to the ground in the dirty old cell? Those things actually have no power over us if we are not locked up to their ball and chain.

Or look at it a different way… what if instead of being the wife of Michael Cannon, I was the wife of Christ Jesus. Or instead of being the mother to Milla Ssuubi, I was the mother of Christ Jesus. Or what if when we saw the orphan, the widow, the homeless, the beggar… we saw Christ Jesus. Would that change the way I was a wife, a mom, or the way I looked at each human I encountered? Yes.

This is both mind blowing and freeing. And it was only the beginning of Paul’s first sentence in the third chapter of his letter to the Ephesians.

Now even though this has been running through my head all week it does not mean I have fully grasped it or put it in to practice each moment. I have put the chains of stress on more than once this week. I have for sure used a tone with Mike and Milla at least once that I would never have used with Jesus. I drove passed a homeless man just today without a thought. I am just being honest. But I know the Lord wants this truth to sink in deeper. To free us from our chains and to remind us how to see the world around us. Meditate on this with me. Grow in this with me. Our ministries, our families, or communities, our world would look much different if we put this in to practice.

Let us be prisoners of our Lord Jesus Christ and never to our circumstances.  Amen!