Day 5: GRACE: Can You Receive It? (Philemon)
Today’s Passage: Philemon verse 8-22
Do you TRUST that God really loves you?
At the end of the day, in the quiet of your heart, can you receive that God loves you? When we strip away all the pretense we surround ourselves with, can we actually receive that the ALL PERFECT God loves us, in all our imperfectness?
Perhaps you are saying, “ABSOLUTELY”!
Great. Next question: Can you live that way publicly, and with other people?
When I am real before God, when I strip away my pretense, I tend to realize just how often I have fallen short. I tend to realize just how far down the proverbial hole of sin God had to reach to pull me from death to life.
Today, let’s consider Onesimus’ predicament.
I wonder, now that Onesimus has come to know Christ, I wonder how he is coming to grips with himself and his sin.
I first blush, I feel awkward discussing someone who is enslaved as a sinner.
I am not here to judge Onesimus. We are all sinners. I am here to put my arm around him, a fellow struggling sinner, and wonder about the courage it must have taken to go back to Philemon.
If I put myself in his shoes, I picture myself saying to Paul, “Can’t I just stay here with you?”
Paul pulls no punches. The letter describes him as “useless” in verse 11. That is harsh. Furthermore, it suggests he may have taken something from Philemon in verse 18.
The situation is serious.
Before he went to Paul, I envision him on-the-run. Living in constant dread; hiding and hungry.
The decision to go to Paul communicates the degree of Onesimus’ distress. While Paul doesn’t mince words, he now declares himself Onesimus’ spiritual father.
Onesimus must have been relieved to be accepted, and to find purpose as a fellow brother in Christ. Then the moment happens. We cannot be sure if it was Paul, or Onesimus, but someone determines he must return to Philemon.
The duty laid upon him by his new discovery of Christ was clear. He must go back to the master he has wronged and ask forgiveness.
Easy to say, but hard to do. Onesimus had been guilty of one of the most serious offences known to ancient law. He could expect great severity, possibly death itself.