People have joked that we could be really happy if it weren’t for other people. People have a way of messing up our lives. The problem is, you and I are people too, and wherever we go, we keep running into even more people. The slave Onesimus discovered that when you run away from some people, you run into others (Philemon 10-11). Do you know what I’m talking about? You change jobs to get away from troublesome people, and you run smack into other bad-news people on your new job. The same thing often happens when people change churches. We humans are here to stay, so we had better learn how to relate to each other. Fortunately, we have God’s Word to guide us. Relationships are one of the most important topics in the Bible, particularly in Paul’s letters to churches where people of all sorts were rubbing shoulders. Philemon was a prominent person in the church at Colossae. He had a slave named Onesimus, who stole money from Philemon and ran away. The punishment for a runaway slave in the Roman Empire was death. But Paul urged Philemon to forgive Onesimus and be reconciled to him as a brother. Has anyone ever hurt or offended you? God tells us in His Word that we can forgive others because of our love for Jesus Christ and the forgiveness God granted us through His death on the cross. “Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you” (Ephesians 4:32).
Posted on: Wed, 02 Apr 2014 17:17:14 +0000
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