The letter of St Paul to Philemon

Remember I told you that there are many books in the bible you may not have heard of before or even read? What about the letter to Philemon? Philemon was a wealthy man. He had a slave named Onesimus. Well,Onesimus ran away from his master Philemon. He may have even stolen from him. As you would have expected, our dear Philemon was upset with his runaway slave. But then Philemon was a Christian who also knew Paul. Onesimus also met Paul while he was on the run from his master and became converted. You would have thought that Paul would not send him back to his master, right? Well you are wrong. Paul did just that but not before writing a very passionate letter to Philemon concerning Onesimus - the short letter I want you to spend some quality time with. This letter has only 25 verses. Here Paul is pleading, "...if you regard me as a partner, welcome him as you would me." Please read this short letter and pray for the courage and strength to do what Paul is asking Philemon to do, forgive those who hurt you. Good luck!

Growing strong in broken places.

This post borrows its title from a book of the same name by Paula Ripple. Many people have written articles on the same title, but I guess their focus, even that of Paula would be different from mine. My major concern here is to state simply that our brokenness, instead of keeping us down, should rather propel us to greater heights. The truth of the matter, as attested to by the lesson of life, is that we all have been broken in the past, or some of us are going through our brokenness even as we speak. What makes us who we are is not that we have been broken, but that we have been able stand up and walk tall in spite of our brokenness.

In order to get rid of hatred, un-forgiveness, anger and frustration that come from our brokenness, it is good to trace and understand the cause of it all. Most of the time, we are broken due to unnecessary and an undue attachment to things and people. These attachments stem from distorted worldview that makes us believe that we would not be happy without certain things or people in our life. This belief and perception is, of course, completely flawed and realistically false. There is no single moment in our life when we do not have everything that we need to be happy. The real reason why we are not happy, most of the time, is that we focus our attention on what we do not have rather than on what we have.

Many of us are broken due to a mistaken type of love and affection. How right was Rilke, when he observed that young people often grievously go wrong in their false notion of love. They throw themselves into each other, as it is their nature, without patience and often find themselves in utter confusion. With confusion comes disappointment. What once brought them joy has now turned to sadness, hatred, brokenness and hurt. When we expect too much from people and our expectations are not met, we are broken, our feelings are hurt; we are disappointed, and frustrated and at times become depressed. Deep down in our hearts, we know that there is only one being that will not disappoint us - God, yet we put our trust in people. Ps. 146:3 exhorts us thus: “Don’t put your trust in human leaders; no human being can save you”. Micah the prophet warns us: “Don’t believe your neighbor or trust your friend. Be careful what you say even to your husband or wife. In these times sons treat their fathers like fools, daughters oppose their mothers, and young women quarrel with their mothers-in-law; your enemies are the members of your own family. But I will watch for the Lord; I will wait confidently for God, who will save me. My God will hear me” (7:5).

 If you have been broken in the past or if you are going through your brokenness now, know that you are not alone; scores of your brothers and sisters are going through the same thing as you. This is a reminder for you to watch your attachments, your worldview and how you perceive people. Forgive yourself and those who have hurt you if you are to begin a new life. Always embrace the world as a lover, expecting appreciation and rejection. Whichever one comes your way, you would be ready for it. Do not forget that time is the greatest healer. Give yourself some time to mourn and grieve your loss and brokenness. Recognize it for what it is and believe that brighter days are ahead of you. No matter what situation you find yourself in, always know that your tomorrow will always be better than your today. Waste no time on yesterday; that is past and gone and will never come back again. Give it all to God and ask him to assist you so that you may see better days ahead of you. If relationships let you down, thank God that you have been able to see it for what it is worth before you let your life be buried in it. May be God has spared you from boredom in marriage that would have ended in divorce, death or deep depression. In every situation you find yourself, give thanks. Always trust in God and he will never let your brokenness be in vain.

Let’s talk about Prophet Malachi

The book of prophet Malachi talks about the kind of sacrifices offered to God by the priests. What kind of sacrifice is acceptable to our God? What kind of sacrifice are you prepared to give to your God? Malachi reminds us that when we give to God, we acknowledge that our blessing comes from God and in giving back to God we share in his generosity. He attributes our misfortune to the fact that we are not offering God his due. Once we freely give to God, Malachi opined, he would open up the treasure of his blessing on us.

He stressed the obligation to pay tithe thus: “Surely I, the Lord, do not change, nor do you cease to be sons of Jacob. Since the days of your fathers you have turned aside from my statutes, and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you, says the Lord of hosts. Yet you say, “How must we return?” Dare a man rob God? Yet you are robbing me! And you say, “How do we rob you?” In tithes and in offerings! You are indeed accursed, for you, the whole nation; rob me. Bring the whole tithe into the store house, that there may be food in my house, and try me in this, says the Lord of hosts: shall I not open for you the floodgates of heaven, to pour down blessing upon you without measure” (Malachi 3:6-10).

Please spend some time reading this short book, 3 chapters only, and pray that your sacrifice may be acceptable.  And while you read and pray this book of Malachi pay your tithe. It is better to give than to receive, and when you give to God he opens the treasure of his love and blessing on you.

The Book of Ruth

The Book of Ruth contains a beautiful example of filial piety, pleasing to the Hebrews and especially because of its connection with King David, and useful both to Hebrews and to Gentiles. Its aim is to demonstrate the divine reward for such piety even when practiced by a stranger. Please read this very interesting book of four chapters and reflect on your own piety. 

The Book of Judges

God has not called any of us to be judges but to be witnesses. But most of the time we have neglected to witness and have chosen to be judges. We judge people at all times except ourselves. We forget the injunction of Christ in the Holy Book: “Stop judging, that you may not be judged. For as you judge, so will you be judged; and the measure with which you measure will be measured out to you. Why do you notice the splinter in your brother’s eye, but do not perceive the wooden beam in your own eye? How can you say to you brother, ‘Let me remove that splinter from your eye,’ while the wooden beam is in your eye? You hypocrite, remove the wooden beam from your eye first, then you will see clearly to remove the splinter from your brother’s eye” Mt. 7:1-5.

Ever stop to think about all terrible things we say about one another? I am saddened by all the names calling that go on both in our TV and radio. Imagine the terrible names that our president is called day in day out or the names we call our leaders both spiritual and temporal. May God forgive us!

However, there is a book of Judges in the Bible that has a different connotation from the observation made above. This book derives its title or name from the twelve heroes of Israel whose deeds it records. They were not magistrates, as one may be tempted to think. No, they were military leaders selected by God to aid and to relieve his people in times of external danger. One of them was a man named Sampson. Why not read the extraordinary life and deeds of this great man and see how God used the weak to defeat the strong. This story could be found in Judges chapters 13, 14, 15, 16. Have fund as you read this story.