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“There’s No Place Like Prison”

A recent bank robbery in Cheyenne, Wyoming required little effort to solve.  The robber, Linda Thompson, 59, walked outside the bank following the heist, threw the money in the air, and sat down on the sidewalk to await the police.  She also waived her right to a trial and told the judge, “I’d like as much time as possible.”

Thompson wasn’t asking for more time before being sent back to prison (she had just been released from prison a few days earlier); she wanted “as much time as possible” on her sentence.  Getting back to prison was her goal all along; robbing a bank was just the quickest way to get what she wanted.

“Prison is home to me,” she was quoted as saying; “so I’m just going back home.”  She is now awaiting the formal sentencing, and expects to receive at least 20 years.

My observations don’t match those of Thompson.  I’ve never resided in a prison facility for more than a few hours (while teaching classes), but the inmates I’ve heard don’t view prison as home.  They want to get out.  That’s what I call a normal attitude.

This story reminds me of an account found in John 5.  Jesus encountered a man who had suffered from an unspecified infirmity for 38 years.  He depended on others to help him move from one place to another.  Jesus asked what might be considered an unusual question: “Do you want to be made well?” (John 5:6).

I think I would have responded to that question with, “Absolutely!  Please do it right now!”  This man was more guarded, perhaps expecting mockery instead of healing.  But it reminds me that not everyone wants healing.  Some have made themselves at home in their suffering and prefer that – for whatever reason – to wellness.

Being freed from things that are bad for us ought to be the desire of all.  For all who think that way, I have one word: Jesus.
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One example of how Jesus brings freedom is found in Hebrews 2:14,15.  The writer speaks of how Jesus destroyed “him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and released those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.”  That’s something from which I am certainly thankful to be freed!

The really important work Jesus has done, however, is noted in Ephesians 1:7: “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins …”  The Greek word for “redemption” means “to be loosed from” – to be set free.

May we never regard our worldly prisons of sin as “home”.  Let us turn to Jesus.

Come to the light God offers!  Study His word, the Bible.  Worship Him in spirit and truth (John 4:24).  Get in touch with us if you’d like to discuss these ideas further.

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Copyright, 2016, Timothy D. Hall.