Some thoughts on Philemon

12.11.08 Devos

"I always thank my God as I remember you in my prayers, because I hear about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints. I pray that you may be active in sharing your faith, so that you will have a full understanding of every good thing we have in Christ. Your love has given me great joy and encouragement, because you, brother, have refreshed the hearts of the saints. Therefore, although in Christ I could be bold and order you to do what you ought to do, yet I appeal to you on the basis of love. I then, as Paul - an old man and now also a prisoner of Christ Jesus - I appeal to you for my son Onesimus, who became my son while I was in chains. Formerly he was useless to you, but now he has become useful both to you and to me."
Philemon 1:4-11

In this short letter to the house church of Philemon, Apphia & Archippus, Paul both exhorts & corrects their behaviors - which is usually the purpose of Paul's letters :) It seems as though there is some "tension" going on about a slave that they used to have named Onesimus, who was taken under the apostle Paul's wing. Paul is now sending Onesimus back to the house church of Philemon...But with a challenge. The challenge to lay down their rights of "ownership" and accept Onesimus back as a brother, instead of a slave.

Random thoughts on this passage:
"I always thank my God as I remember you in my prayers, because I hear about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints. I pray that you may be active in sharing your faith, so that you will have a full understanding of every good thing we have in Christ. Your love has given me great joy and encouragement, because you, brother, have refreshed the hearts of the saints." Philemon 1:4-7

• v.4-5 Thankfulness...Am I thankful? No...I mean, am I truly thankful & excited about every praise report I hear? Is my soul re-ignited when I hear about people showing the love of Christ to one another? Do I remember to regularly pray for those around me?

• v.6 A full understnading of every good thing I have in Christ - oh boy would I be excited to gain that! But there is just too much, how do I even begin to understand something so deep? Paul says that if we are ACTIVE in sharing our faith, we will begin to find that understanding. We need to start living it out BEFORE it makes sense to us, so that in the end it will all make sense :) - Hmmm...that sentance didn't make sense.

• v.7 Love and encouragement - we all need it. We could all use a lot more of it in our lives! God has blessed me beyond measure and so I can honestly say that majority of the time - this joy that I have, I can barely contain it! The best thing about it though, is that when I show my gratefulness to God through my joy, He in turn INCREASES my joy by letting me be a source of love & encouragement to others. They in turn pass on the love & encouragement...and I get it back ten fold. I see the "refrshinging of the saints" happening all around me, on a daily basis. It's a wonderful thing....Almost like a CHAIN REACTION!

***A chain reaction is a sequence of reactions where a reactive product or by-product causes additional reactions to take place. It is a chain of events. Thanks Wikipedia!

to be continued...