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Today's Little Lift
by Jim Bullington
Some One Chapter Blessings – Philemon
Focus Text: Philemon 1.11
A leopard can’t change its spots but what has that to do with human beings? God is a God of second, third, and fourth chances! Thankfully, He is not like we are in that His patience and mercy is virtually inexhaustible. Consider the need for second chances as you consider the case of Onesimus, a runaway slave.
Concerning Onesimus, Paul told Philemon that he "…once was unprofitable to you, but now is profitable to you and to me." (Philemon 1.11). The very word Onesimus means profitable or useful. Yet, in some measure, perhaps just in that he ran away from his master, Onesimus had failed to measure up to his own name and to Philemon’s expectations. Whatever the reason, Paul now befriended Onesimus and entreated Philemon to receive him back with no recriminations. Paul’s confidence in Onesimus was such that he put his own resources on the line for him. Paul wrote, "But if he has wronged you or owes anything, put that on my account." (Philemon 1.18). Whatever Onesimus had been before, Paul’s estimate of him was entirely positive when he told the church at Colossae that Onesimus was a "faithful and beloved bother." (Colossians 4.9).
Why would Paul extend himself in this manner and that on behalf of another who had failed to measure up on some way? We may not know the details regarding Paul and Onesimus, but we do know some relevant details regarding Paul. He once had taken a wrong road spiritually but the God of infinite mercies saw fit to call him to truth and to higher service. Perhaps God could have just "written him off" but then who would have been hurt? Had God not given Paul a second chance the entire world would have lost in as much as his work among the Gentiles would have gone undone and his writings would never have existed. Paul would have lost and Paul would have been lost had God not been a God of second chances.
Why did Jesus extend Himself on behalf of the apostle Peter? He was sometimes weak, frequently outspoken, even boisterous at times, yet Jesus saw beyond the present and looked to Peter’s potential. Even on the night of His betrayal, the night in which Peter would deny the Lord three times, Jesus said, "But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail; and when you have returned to Me, strengthen your brethren." (Luke 22.32). What a loss had Jesus’ attitude toward Peter been like ours is at times! I am sure that God would have raised up a spokesperson on Pentecost had Peter not been present, but how very different the beginning of the church would have been without Peter!
Philosophically speaking, everybody makes mistakes. But speaking realistically, we want to act as though we are above mistakes while holding others to a standard which we cannot attain. God knows us because He made us; He has nurtured humanity from the beginning. He knows about leopards and he knows about humans; He knows that He made us different and that we are capable of change! God makes the unprofitable profitable!
Questions:
1. Is it proper to call God the God of second chances? Does His patience ever wear thin or does there ever come a time when His mercy is withdrawn? Can you name biblical examples?
2. What indication is there that Paul was genuine in his belief that Onesimus had changed?
3. What second chances had been given to Paul? Peter? Humanity?
4. If we are to be God-like, what will be our attitude toward others when they make mistakes?
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