Transcending Prison Chains that Bind Us

Transcending Prison Chains that Bind Us

Do you know what Nelson Mandela, Malcolm X,  and O Henry all had in common? You probably know. They were all in prison at one time, but did something there that changed their lives. O Henry became an author, X unshackled himself from the oppression of white society, and Mandela learned to forgive. Each found the power of transcending prison.

President Mandela's recent passing reminded me of an event from high school. You see I was part of a model United Nations held at Greenville College in Illinois. I was the representative to the General Assembly from a then little known country called Kuwait. The big issue that we talked about at that conference was Apartheid--Mandela helped to end it by transcending prison.

Although most might consider the horrible treatment of Nelson Mandela in prison a tragedy, in the long run it became a blessing to millions around the world. Just as Gandhi toppled the British Empire through passive resistance, Mandela learned to forgive his enemies while in prison. That is how transcending prison works.  This ability took him eventually to the presidency of South Africa, where he influenced the world.   

Though I have great respect for this soft spoken, humble man, he was not the first to win through humility and to overcome his enemies with a soft word. In Philippians chapter one the author, Paul the Apostle, shares that the Gospel was being spread because he was in prison--physically chained.

Paul reveals that not only were those not imprison becoming more bold in the spreading of the "Good News" but members of the Praetorian Guard, the special forces of the Roman Empire, were being won over to the message of Jesus Christ through contact with the apostle.

It is no wonder that Paul conducted himself in such a way. After all, when he was in Philippi he had been illegally arrested, beaten and imprisoned. What was his reaction? He sang hymns--all night! His jailer became one of the first converts to Christianity in Europe. Powerful!

Transcending Prison and You

What is your prison? It most likely is not a cell with bars on it. But, it could be a physical prison such as blindness or a wheel chair. More often the prison is not physical but one of the mind or of attitude. Prisons such as, "I am too old, too young, uneducated, overeducated, too big, too thin," all can keep you from action--Prisons are simply things that oppress us, that bind us...

Jesus said of his father, "He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, ... to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free the oppressed, ..." 

You have a choice. You do not have to live in the prisons that we or others have created. We can break free. Today, as Malcolm X, O Henry, Nelson Mandela, and Paul--you too can turn what is a seeminglly tragedy into victory by break the chains that bind you and...

transcending prison

Don Bonnell

P. S. All these individuals had something else in common...they had mentors...look here for a mentor