Visiting the Prisoners of the Lord

2024-02-11

In western society, it is not as common to have Christians arrested for the faith. However, it does happen. Visiting and attending to the needs of these fellow believers is important. As the years go on, we need to be ready to do so.

The Lord commanded, “I was in prison, and ye came unto me... Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me” (Matthew 25:36, 40). It is His expectation for us to serve other Christians in this way.

The apostle Paul was “in prisons more frequent” than any other of his time (2 Corinthians 11:23). He needed help from other believers, and many times, the authorities allowed others to visit him. Consider some of those who stayed with him during his time of imprisonment. “The Lord give mercy unto the house of Onesiphorus; for he oft refreshed me, and was not ashamed of my chain” (2 Timothy 1:16). And again, “Only Luke is with me. Take Mark, and bring him with thee: for he is profitable to me for the ministry” (2 Timothy 4:11). Luke was faithful to Paul to the end, and Mark, with whom there was disagreement many years before, had become profitable to him.

Paul admonished Timothy to not forsake him during his imprisonment. “Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner: but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God” (2 Timothy 1:8).

The danger is that visiting people in prison for the cause of Jesus Christ might implicate the visitor in the so-called “crimes.” Such visitation will cause us to count the cost for sure. Many did not want to help Paul during his last trial. “At my first answer no man stood with me, but all men forsook me: I pray God that it may not be laid to their charge” (2 Timothy 4:16). Remember those who pay the price for preaching the Gospel.