When Jesus walked among us, he spent his time preaching the good news of salvation to anyone who would come by faith to trust Him as Lord. A closer look and you'll notice that everything Jesus said and did was either to prepare someone to hear the gospel or equip them to live it, thereby preaching it to someone else. His final words to his disciples and to us, was to go, preach, baptize and disciple the nations.

It's believed that Philemon was an escaped slave of Onesimus who came to be a valuable disciple of the gospel while serving Paul. However, there came a time when the past caught up with him and the slave was compelled to go back and make things right with his master.

In order to help his cause, Paul wrote a letter for mercy to Onesimus saying Philemon left his servitude a lost man, but was saved under Paul's influence and faithfully served the Gospel ever since. Paul therefore asked Oneismus to receive his former slave as a brother and not a possession. But if he would not, Paul would pay whatever was required in order to settle accounts. That way, Philemon could continue serving the Lord with a clear conscience, something we should all take into account.

Would you say you're active in sharing your faith as Paul encouraged Philemon to do? Is everything you do a means through which you preach Jesus to a lost and dying world? If you're witnessing now, have you reconciled your past so no one will be able to say you offended them and never sought to make it right?

Before we came to Jesus, we were slaves to sin and served Satan, a taskmaster far worse than any wicked earthly taskmaster. Our minds and hearts were fixed on doing what was natural without regard to the consequences. Scripture says, "There is a way that seems right, or natural to a man, but in the end, it leads to death." (Cp: Pro 14:12;16:25). In other words, we are still dead in our sins if we continue to serve our sinful nature, having never received forgiveness through Christ's atonement, or what He did on the Cross.

It may not have dawned on you before now, but there may be a logical reason you're not concerned about lost people. If you're still in bondage to your sinful nature, you won't have have godly desire. Without it, you only care about yourself and even though you are comfortable with your religion, God is not at all pleased. Your lack of desire is simply evidence that sin has once again taken control of your life from the Holy Spirit. Jesus is Lord, but if He's not Lord of your life, Satan is!

Who's your master?

1 Developed from Read the Bible Thru ( Lm.1:1-2:19 Pl. 1:1-25 Ps. 101:1-8 Pr. 26:20 )
2. Scripture comes from the Holy Bible, New International Version; (c)1978 by New York International Bible Society

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