Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Foreign.
[00:00:13] Welcome back to another edition of the weekday podcast. Today, I want to read to you Philemon, chapter 1, verse 17, where Paul says to his friend, philemon, if you regard me as a partner, accept him as you would me.
[00:00:25] Now, this is one of the most powerful pictures of the gospel in the New Testament. Paul is telling Philemon, if you love me, then love onesimus like you would love me. Accept him like you would accept me. What he's doing is he's asking Philemon to transfer the love, the grace, and the respect that he has for Paul onto someone who didn't earn it. And that's what grace does. It transfers the credit from one person to another. And that's exactly what Jesus does for us, that when we put our faith in Christ, that God doesn't treat us based on what we've done, he treats us based on what Jesus has done. That Paul is saying, let me take the hit, let me take the debt, let him be seen through my name. And that's honestly what reconciliation looks like. And this is the hard part of grace. It's not receiving it, but actually extending it. Not just believing that God loves us, but choosing to love others through the same lens.
[00:01:21] So here's a question today. Who is your onesimus? Who in your life do you struggle to see with new eyes? Is there someone you've written off? If there's someone you're keeping at a distance because of a label that they once wore?
[00:01:33] Grace doesn't ignore sin, but it does rewrite the story.
[00:01:38] When you've received that kind of grace, it's a calling for you to pass it on. Because grace, it doesn't stop with you. It flows through you to rewrite someone else's story. Have a great day. We'll see you back here soon.
