Financing Our Imprisonment

“For two whole years Paul stayed there in his own rented house and welcomed all who came to see him.  Boldly and without hindrance he preached the kingdom of God and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ.” Acts 28:30-31

During the time Paul wrote Philippians, he was in Rome under house arrest awaiting his trial.  This trial took two years and required an investment on Paul’s part.  Being under house arrest meant, ‘that he could receive visitors and write and receive letters.  Paul had to finance his imprisonment.  Acts 28:30 states that Paul had to pay for his own rented apartment…plus he had to pay for the guards as required by Rome.’ New Testament Life Application Commentary.

The words finance his imprisonment linger in the air this morning like an unattainable goal.  Not only did Paul embrace his imprisonment for the gospel but he invested in it.  My commentary states that his payment went towards a place to live and for the payment of those guards who ensured Paul’s imprisonment.  He had faith in his assignment for which God had placed him, and saw it as an opportunity to display unwavering faith in the face of enslavement.  To read the verse above we might be tempted to believe he was enjoying a place by the sea.  He welcomed…he was bold…without hindrance…preached and taught.  Without hindrance translates to me as full of freedom while in prison.

 How on this earth can we welcome our imprisonments and feel free in our trials?  True freedom is when we demote what masters over our lives, and promote the Master of our lives.   As long as we are on this earth, trials and suffering seem to arrest and confine us as we wait on their resolution.  We find ourselves imprisoned by situations which we cannot control.  We will be miserable and joyless in our trials if we cannot invest and embrace them, and focus on the kingdom of God.  In Paul’s arrested state, he still enjoyed the comforts of his home and the freedom of his testimony. 

What greater peace can we attain than by investing in our own imprisonment, that place where God has assigned us to teach us about His kingdom?  ‘Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.’ 2 Co. 3:17