3 Reasons Why You Need to Go to Prison
You need to go to prison. But don’t do anything rash. I mean don’t do anything wrong or illegal. Unless of course preaching the gospel is illegal. That’s what the apostles did and they often got thrown in jail for it.
As I was studying Acts 16 where one reads about the imprisonment of Paul and Silas it occurred to me that it is sometimes beneficial to go to prison. Here’s why:
1. Going to prison will test the authenticity of your faith. Most of the earth shakers and leaders of the past went to prison for something they believed in. Paul and Silas remind me that we are not very bold anymore about our faith. I often wonder how unpopular we would be willing to be for Jesus sake.
I’m not saying intentionally get yourself locked up. I’m saying it’s good to have a measuring stick for just how real your faith is to you. John wrote to the brethren at Smyrna that they would be cast into prison for their faith (Rev. 2:10). Peter wrote in 1 Peter 1:6-7 – “In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”
2. Going to prison would be a blessing to the other inmates. The text reveals that after Paul and Silas had been severely beaten that they were taken to the inner prison and fastened in stocks. But at midnight they were singing and praying to God. The jailer was listening. The prisoners were listening. Now if Paul and Silas had never been thrown in prison, would these people have ever heard the gospel?
Sometimes we need to be put in difficult situations so that others can hear the story of Jesus. It may be just a co-worker or friend who needs us to be incarcerated with them for a season. In reality, everyone who has sinned is in a prison from which they need to be delivered. Sometimes the only way that can happen is for someone to walk with them for a while.
3. Going to prison will help you be thankful that it is not your normal residence. Do you remember the first time you played Monopoly and landed on the space where the jail is and you were happy because you were “just visiting”? Most of the times in life that we are frustrated or disenchanted are due to the fact that we don’t like current circumstances. We fail to be thankful for the good things and blessings we receive daily – and Satan’s greatest tool is to dangle “unhappiness” in our faces. Go to jail for a day and you will be glad you get to leave. Go do mission work in a third world country for a few weeks and you will kiss the ground when you get home. You truly don’t have it so bad!
You may not have everything as you like it all the time, but that’s reality. Paul wrote to Timothy in his first epistle to his son in the faith, “And having food and clothing with these things we shall be content” (1 Tim. 6:8).
So going to prison may not be such a bad thing. It will cause us to remember what we believe. It will allow us to let God’s work be done in us. It will help us to be thankful for even the simplest blessings. It will remind us that in Chris Jesus, no matter where we are or what the circumstances around us might be, we are truly free. Which is why Paul and Silas were singing to begin with…
“There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” – Galatians 3:28
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AUTHOR: Jeremiah Tatum
Photo credit: Denny Muller on Unsplash
