Richard Lovelace once said, "Stone walls do not a prison make, nor iron bars a cage." Indeed, it's not the materials of a room that creates a prison, but it is the detaining of one within that room. When we allow ourselves to be detained with any structure, whether tangible or intangible, we become prisoners. Sin is the warden of intangible prisons. These prisons promise us pleasure and happiness but create doom and despair, and we cannot by our own power escape from these selfmade prisons. Thankfully God is merciful. David says, "then they cry unto the Lord in their trouble, and he saves them out of their distresses." (Psalms 107:19)

Let us look at a couple of these prisons. There is the prison of self-satisfaction. These prisoners tend to evaluate their self-view based on their own personal judgment. This is like trying to groom yourself in the dark, while pretending you can see yourself in a mirror. While grooming, we turn on the light and look at ourselves in an accurate mirror. This type of thinking ought to carry over when we try to groom our actions, attitudes, and dispositions. Why do we make so much effort to correctly see our physical body and adjust where necessary, and not give any effort to correctly see our spiritual body and adjust where necessary? The Bible is our perfect spiritual mirror. (James 1:21-25) We can take this mirror and look at a true reflection of our self if we make the effort. We can see ourselves as God sees us and make the necessary adjustments.

On the other side of the road is the prison of inferiority. This prison houses the defeatist. These are those that feel like they can do nothing for God. This prison was the prison of the unprofitable servant found in Matthew 25:14-30. This servant received only one talent. He felt inadequate no doubt compared to the one that received two or the one that received five. So, he went and dug a hole in the ground and hid his lord's money. When the master came back, the servant told him, "I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in the earth: lo, there thou hast that is thine." (Matt 25:25) Again just like the prison of self- satisfaction, the prison of inferiority stems from our self-perception. We are judging our spiritual body based on our own internal viewpoint. This is ridiculous, but many of us fall into this prison from time to time. We must look to the Bible, the only authority for the soul, for our viewpoint. "I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me." (Phil 4:13)

Another common prison that we build around ourselves is the prison of worldliness. Whether we are talking about the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, or the pride of life, (1 John 2:16) worldliness stems from greed. We desire certain things, so we go get them, whether it pleases God or not. This is selfishness towards God. But out of God's unselfishness, God gives us a way to escape from these self-made prisons. Jesus while in the synagogue read from Isaiah, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, To preach the acceptable year of the Lord." This is what Jesus did. He delivered us, who were destined to death because of sin, and gave us a way that we can receive pardon and freedom. Without Christ there is no escape from these prisons! How can you escape? Paul says, "For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly." (Rom 5:6) We have no strength or power within ourselves to escape from our prisons. The only way out is through the door, and Christ is the door! (John 10:7, 9)

Eric