Imprisoned

I just finished reading a book called Papillon-the autobiography of a French prisoner from the 1930's who spent over a decade trying to escape horrible conditions before succeeding. He saw several friend die and almost lost his own life several times in the process. At the end of the book he had found freedom in Venezuela and talked about the difficulty of being trusted. He said, "it's not all that easy to step out of the chains you've been dragging around for fourteen years." When you've been a prisoner for so long i imagine it's extremely difficult to act like you're free.

I suppose that's not so different for each of us. When we have become accustomed to a certain lifestyle it is not a simple thing to change it. Our communication style, coping mechanisms, and habits are so well formed and ingrained in who we are that we don't know how to change them. Even as we take the life-changing step of committing our lives to Christ, we can still struggle to fully accept the freedom of life He gives to us.

This change won't happen in a short period of time-after all, we didn't develop it in a day, but over a lifetime.