In this letter, Paul asks for forgiveness from Philemon, a Collossian church leader and slave owner, for the runaway slave Onesimus. What is interesting here is that an Apostle is speaking on behalf of a fellow prisoner who has become a believer and reformed his ways. If you are going to have somebody speak on your behalf, it is good to have the man who has made one of the biggest transformations in the Bible do it for you!

But really, haven’t we all been in the position of Philemon, finding ourselves needing to forgive somebody who has wronged us? I found great inspiration from this verse:

You are generous because of your faith. And I am praying that you will really put your generosity to work, for in so doing you will come to an understanding of all good things that we can do for Christ. Philemon 1:6 (NLT)

I don’t think that we should just always roll over and forgive anybody. In fact, I have just read Paul’s warnings to Timothy to stay away from those that may be harmful to him, that if they should betray his trust three times that he should walk away. But, for those that have truly made amends and especially those those new believers who might have wronged us in their non-believing days, we should forgive them with a generous heart and without our pride getting in the way. Did I write anywhere in here that it would be easy? No way! But, I believe, this is truly a test of our faith and one we should truly consider if the situation arises.

That is why I am boldly asking a favor of you. I could demand it in the name of Chris because it is the right thing for you to do, but because of our love, I prefer just to ask you. So take this as a request from your friend Paul, an old man, now in prison for the sake of Christ Jesus. Philemon 1:8-9 (NLT)

And here we are with an another excellent example of how we can associate with our fellow believers. There are times when it seems that others in our fellowship will start reciting scripture and demanding that we make choices because of it. But, notice how Paul requests this and lets Philemon make the decision. God made us of free will and he demands nothing of us. We are free to make decisions and in following the Lord, I believe we should allow others to do so.

Wow, the one page wonder! Such a short writing, but a great lesson. Read on…

Next up: Hebrews 

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