Yes, brother, let me have this benefit from you in the Lord! Refresh my heart in
Christ. Confident of your obedience, I am writing to you, knowing that you will do
even more than I say. Philemon 1: 20-21
Paul in the letter to Philemon comes to us with a plea we tend to hear over and over, but must hear time and time again. A prisoner Onesimus, in the story Philemon writes, must have deserved this justice and time for what he did. Yet when Paul sees in Onesimus great things he teaches him all he knows about God; he can’t bare that Onesumus will be returned to be enslaved again.
There are many ways to unwrap a gift. Carefully so you could potentially use the
paper again, like a tornado ripping through whatever you can, and finally in-
between where you can’t quite decide if you must be carful or if you can just go for it.
This letter Paul is writing to Philemon is carefully written because he knows what a
big deal this is. Presenting this option to give grace to Omesimus.
While we wait we have this gift of grace we don’t have to take our time to unwrapping it. It is here, available for us. Yet it is so strange that we have a hard time tarring right through. Maybe not for our own gift, but for those around us. Let us think today of how grace extends to others. Perhaps we can write our own “letter” for someone who could be reminded of the great grace that God gives through Christ Jesus.
God, help me open your gift of grace like I mean it. Help me voice this gift for others to see they have it too. Amen
Where do you see God’s grace extended to those around you?
Are you feeling called to share God’s grace with another?
Lisa Johnson, Deacon
Saint John Lutheran Church, Council Bluffs
Christ. Confident of your obedience, I am writing to you, knowing that you will do
even more than I say. Philemon 1: 20-21
Paul in the letter to Philemon comes to us with a plea we tend to hear over and over, but must hear time and time again. A prisoner Onesimus, in the story Philemon writes, must have deserved this justice and time for what he did. Yet when Paul sees in Onesimus great things he teaches him all he knows about God; he can’t bare that Onesumus will be returned to be enslaved again.
There are many ways to unwrap a gift. Carefully so you could potentially use the
paper again, like a tornado ripping through whatever you can, and finally in-
between where you can’t quite decide if you must be carful or if you can just go for it.
This letter Paul is writing to Philemon is carefully written because he knows what a
big deal this is. Presenting this option to give grace to Omesimus.
While we wait we have this gift of grace we don’t have to take our time to unwrapping it. It is here, available for us. Yet it is so strange that we have a hard time tarring right through. Maybe not for our own gift, but for those around us. Let us think today of how grace extends to others. Perhaps we can write our own “letter” for someone who could be reminded of the great grace that God gives through Christ Jesus.
God, help me open your gift of grace like I mean it. Help me voice this gift for others to see they have it too. Amen
Where do you see God’s grace extended to those around you?
Are you feeling called to share God’s grace with another?
Lisa Johnson, Deacon
Saint John Lutheran Church, Council Bluffs
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