Folsom Prison Blues

       Johnny Cash is an icon in the country-western music world. His signature song, “Folsom Prison Blues,” was released in 1955 and it rose to the top of the charts like a rocket ship. Cash knew all about hard times, both in life and in prisons.

       Prisons aren’t nice places. It was especially true when Cash wrote that song. We wouldn’t want to be there would we? I can’t imagine what goes on inside those places, where everything is a system within the system, where folks have to be on guard and fear for their wellbeing. According to a friend of mine whose dad was in one of those “cushy” prisons for white collar crime, even they are not nice.
      
       Consider this—we all live in a prison(s) of sorts. Yes, you read it right.

·         At times we are prisoners to time or the clock more than we want to be.

·         We can be held prisoner by the “monster” of more, or his close relative, “I want it now!”

·         Some of us are prisoners to a rancid relationship.

·         We can be held prisoner by our own baggage and stuff.

·         Our habits and our sin hold us prisoner.

       Some of us are held in maximum security at the worst prison there is. This is the prison that keeps us locked up, where we experience no real freedom at all. It’s name is “fear of what others think.” When we’re in this prison, our spiritual growth is stifled. While a prisoner there, we:

·         Can’t be all that God wants us to be.

·         Find it’s hard to do what is right instead of what is popular.

·         Can’t live to our fullest potential.

·         Find it difficult to be transparent with others.

·         Experience issues that need not happen in our relationships.

·         Have a hard time developing a deep and lasting relationship with Christ.

·         Just can’t be real, as we truly were made to be.

       Once we escape from the maximum insecurity of this prison, our visits to all of those others will diminish, and we will be totally free, never again to sing the “Folsom Prison Blues.”

Bottom Line Thought: Are you being held captive by anything? Does it interfere with your being real, transparent, and true? What can you do to free yourself?