What would you expect a prisoner’s prayer requests to be about? Getting out of prison quickly is an obvious one to start with. Others might be for safety in prison in the light of possible mistreatment by guards or dangerous prisoners, or for a strong stomach to digest prison food, or for comfort and financial assistance for family members on the outside, or for a good lawyer to help fight the charges. But when Paul was in prison, his prayer requests as recorded in the fourth chapter of his letter to the Colossians, were for something quite different:
Pray for us also, that God may open a door for the message, allowing us to speak about the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains. Pray that I may explain it as clearly as I should.
Paul’s priorities in life had become so aligned with God’s kingdom priorities that his greatest desire had become the furthering of the gospel message, even if it meant great personal inconvenience to himself. He did not deliberately choose to be a prisoner, but he was happy to embrace being a prisoner if it meant a chance to further the kingdom of God.
In the same way, Jesus did not desire to be crucified, but he knew that his death on the cross was necessary for the salvation of all who believe in him. Thus, although he could have found many ways of avoiding it, he chose the cross. That is how this blog got its name: Choose the Cross. There are many things that we can choose to do in life, but if we want to take up our assigned roles in God’s plan for the universe, then like Jesus we have to abandon other things and choose the cross.