"For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he...” Proverbs 23:7
We believe that being in prison is living behind bars; however, being in prison can be completely mental.
You can live behind walls and be free; or, you can live free and still be behind walls.
While watching a documentary on rural India, the show’s host noticed that all the adult elephants were tethered with a small density jute rope secured to young insignificant trees, not more than five or six inches in diameter. When he asked one of the elephant owners how he was able to keep an adult elephant tethered with such an old rope any adult human could easily break, the trainer replied that when the elephants are very young, its trainer ties it to a strong tree using a very strong rope. The baby elephant tugs and tugs, but it is much too young to break the rope. The trainer continues to use the rope until the young elephant accepts that he cannot break free. From that point on, it becomes unnecessary for the trainer to harness the elephant with a heavy rope, any rope will do. When the elephant is mature, large enough to kill its captive owner and break the rope, it does nothing because it has been trained from infancy that any attempt to break the rope is futile.
The Bible says, “For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he;...” So, your perception is everything!
We often place ourselves in predetermined prisons. Prisons we create in our minds because of something someone said or did to us; or, something we said or did to them. Like the elephants in our story, there are paper-thin chains holding us that we believe are high density ropes. --Imaginary ropes that in reality, can be easily broken; yet somehow, we still hold on to the imagery of bondage.
With the acceptance of Jesus Christ as our Savior, the Bible says, “...old things are passed away, all things become new.” We have put on a new person who is no longer captive, but free. Jesus offered you a truly new mindset; a paradigm shift in determining who you are and who you can be!
If this is something you truly, truly understand, then why are you still keeping yourself tied to that small, minuscule, infant-size, fledgling tree with those silly crepe-paper chains of unforgiveness, self-doubt, unrealized goals, and old self-deprecating thoughts?
–You have already been freed! –Simply take one giant step, break that rope, and move forward! Hallelujah! L.
Study Reference: 2 Corinthians 5:17, Proverbs 23:7
From: “Prisons.” In The Master’s Hands II: 365 Daily Devotions For Everyday Living.
Copyright © 2014 by Lavona E. Campbell
photo: kidspot
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