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One God, One Love . . .
Reverend
Anthony D Coley
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An Attitude Reflective of Grace
September 5, 2010
Philemon 1 – 21 The more I read the Bible, the more surprised
I become that more people aren’t reading it. Many people have the impression that the Bible is a dry book of theology
accompanied by a long list of ‘thou shalls’ and ‘thou shall nots,’ but it
really is a good read. The stories of
the Bible are full of adventure, heartache, pain, joy, overcoming obstacles, and
great miracles; there are stories of love, betrayal and compassion, the kinds
of stories that shape not only our view of the world, but how we view
ourselves. The letter that Paul is
writing to Philemon is one of those that offer us so much more than what we
believe that twenty five verses can contain. It is a letter written full of compassion, love and excitement for a
lost soul that has found reconciliation with the Creator. It is a model of how we ourselves are to react
when one of our own comes to know the saving grace of our Lord and Savior Jesus
Christ and all this is told by Paul, who finds himself imprisoned for his own
faith in Christ with little to no thought of his own well being.
It seems that this letter to
Philemon is an appeal for him to receive Onesimus back not as the slave he once
knew, but as a brother in Christ and Paul urged Philemon to forgive Onesimus
for any wrong that he may have committed against him and his family. Though the letter itself is short in
comparison to those written to others by Paul, there is invaluable insight to
be gained. The letter provides a model
for Christian Courtesy, a manifestation,
if you will, of Christian Love and a
focus on the importance of reacting properly to Christian Conversion.
I
would like to invite each of you today to adopt an attitude that is
reflective of
the grace in your lives; to look at the world through the eyes of
Christ, the
same eyesight that Paul gained upon his own conversion on the Damascus
Road. Stop hurting one another, stop holding each
other back and stop holding on to what the world has to say about
you. Forgive those who have hurt you, those who
have spoken ill about you and find value in one another, especially in
those
that you have declared to be useless. The truth remains that we, as
earthly bound individuals, are going to be
wronged, we are going to be talked about, we are going to hurt and we
are going
to find ourselves imprisoned by others and unfortunately even
ourselves. Don’t let this become the focus of your existence. Don’t let
these experiences shape your
attitudes about life, but rather focus your attention and your attitudes
on the
hope that is Christ Jesus.
In
the name of the one who has offered his life, his blood and his body as a
sacrifice for the atonement of our sin and our shame, let us ready ourselves
today to be called saints among the sainted. Amen!
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