It’s so easy to think of ourselves as superior to those who have been incarcerated. When I was a pastor, I would often remind my fellow believers that we are all recovering from something and re-entering from somewhere. The addict and the ex-offender are not at all different from us. We are all recovering from an addiction, whether it’s food, work, gossip, sex, attention, television, caffeine, or (fill in the blank with your addiction). Everyone has a crutch. Everyone practices idolatry. We all have depended on something more than we have depended on God.
Looking at the topic from another angle, we are all reentering from a “prison” of some type. What has trapped you? Greed? Pride? An unhealthy relationship? Everyone has looked at the world through their own personal set of bars, and it’s only by God’s grace that we have been freed to live a whole and healthy life. In reality, Jesus frees us from a jail cell every day, and every morning His grace is renewed. When we meet a man or a woman at the gate of a literal prison on the day their sentence ends, we are meeting a brother or sister who has been redeemed – just like you and me.
This truth fills me with excitement, and I hope it does the same for you. Because if the Gospel is really true for everyone, than anyone – including the prisoners taking seminary-level courses through Prison Fellowship’s TUMI program – can become part of God’s plan to redeem the world for His glory.