Today's Passage: Philemon 1

You believe people can change, don't you? Can you change? In today's passage, Paul is writing to Philemon, a wealthy Christian slaveowner. Something went wrong for Onesimus, the slave of Philemon. It is interesting that Onesimus fled to Rome...did he seek out Paul? Onesimus had to be aware of Paul's ministry, as his master Philemon was a convert of Paul's. Whatever it was that Onesimus did, he confessed to Paul, accepted Christ, and became "profitable" to Paul (a play on words since the name "Onesimus" means "useful" or "profitable").

Paul appealed to Philemon to accept Onesimus as a brother and forgive the debt, charging it to Paul if need be. While certainly Philemon had to be willing to believe that Onesimus had truly changed, Paul's word on the matter gave plenty of credibility. The biggest change was for Philemon himself. He had to be willing to forgive and not let the past influence his behavior towards Onesimus going forward.

All of us have someone (if not someones) to forgive. While forgiveness does not mean we must remove all boundaries for those whose behavior has not changed, each time we forgive we must monitor our attitude towards that person to avoid treating them as if nothing has truly changed in them...or us.