Unforgiveness Is A Prison

As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. (Ephesians 4:1-3) 
 
In the first verse of Ephesians chapter four, Paul calls himself a prisoner of the Lord. He has been beaten and abused by the imperial prison guards. He has suffered violence at the hands of the state. His death warrant will be signed by the emperor, and yet Paul calls himself a prisoner of the Lord.  
 
This is a subversive statement. He is imprisoned by the Roman empire for the sake of the Gospel. So his description of himself as a prisoner of the Lord is a word of resistance to imperialism and empire. He is basically saying, “I’m not a prisoner of the Roman imperial power. I am prisoner of God.”  
 
Paul’s point in doing this is simple. If he acknowledges himself as a prisoner of Rome, he is twice imprisoned: first by the prison bars, and secondly by the anger, bitterness, and unforgiveness he would undoubtedly feel toward them. Unforgiveness would have imprisoned him, but forgiveness would set him free, even though he is locked behind prison bars.  
 
So many of us remain physically free but spiritually and emotionally incarcerated by the past and the person that caused us the pain. We allow the pain or the memory to become a prison wherein we are on lockdown, isolated from the joy, love and peace God intends for us to have.  
 
If you want to be free, if you want to be liberated from the pain of what has happened to you, if you want to take that first step in the journey of 1,000 miles toward wholeness and total peace, you must know that, that first step is one of forgiveness.