He is coming with Onesimus, our faithful and dear brother, who is one of you. They will tell you everything that is happening here.
Colossians 4:9
Everyone of us comes from someplace. We were born in one place, grew up in another. We’ve changed jobs. Houses. Cars. The clothes and shoes we wear today aren’t what we wore in the past. I’m just a normal guy who’s had a normal, average life. And my average life has had an average number of changes.
Lived in eight houses and one apartment.
Owned 11 cars in five states.
Used 13 laptops and 16 cell phones.
Worked for 18 different companies.
Have 1,400+ Facebook friends and 6,600+ followers on LinkedIn.
Then again, perhaps I’m not all that normal after all. But when it came to Onesimus, who we’ll call Mr. O, there wasn’t anything really that special about him. He was one of the five to ten million people in the cruel Roman slave population.
He didn’t have any special talents or abilities. He was just an average guy. When someone’s born into slavery, that usually means they’re not going anywhere. He was going to have one master all his life unless the master either sold him or killed him. That was what he had to look forward to.
Think about this for a minute. Every day was focused on doing what someone else told him to do. He either was devoted to his master, doing everything they said, or there was punishment. And there weren’t a lot of rules to stop a master from doing whatever they wanted to do.
Until something big happened. We don’t know if something terrible happened that just pushed him over the edge, or if he just got fed-up. But for some reason, Mr. O made a radically big change to his life.
Mr. O did the unusual. He did the unexpected. He ran away. He left the life he’d known all his life and headed for parts unknown. We don’t think if there was a plan to leave his master and go to a certain place, or if it was a spur-of-the-moment decision. But he left the people and place he knew. He just ran.
Somewhere along that journey, Mr. O ran into the Apostle Paul. And then everything changed. Through that relationship, Mr. O became a Christian. He gave his small and insignificant life to the one who made and loved him. There was nothing “unpredictable” about their meeting. Yes, it was unpredictable from a human standpoint, but there was nothing unpredictable about it from God’s standpoint. He sits on the throne of heaven and all eternity. Nothing’s outside his control.
The change in Mr. O’s life was remarkable. He’s changed from a rebellions runaway slave into someone that was like a son to Paul. He was transformed from someone who was useless and became someone altogether useful[1].
Mr. O had a “next chapter” in his life. His resume would look a whole lot different after meeting Paul. He had been a difficult, rebellions, pain-in-the-neck guy. But now, Paul describes him as the kind of guy he’s like to have around all the time[2]
Just chew on this for a minute. Mr. O went from nothing more than a slave to a brother. His life did a 180. No more a dishonest and faithless so-and-so, but trustworthy. No longer just an object of contempt, but someone to love.
The big question is how did this happen? Mr. O’s transformation came through receiving Jesus as his God and savior. Mr. O came to realize something big enough so that everything changes.
I know that my redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand on the earth.
Job 19:25
Mr. O came to know God as his redeemer. The one who paid for all his screwups. All his slipups. All his sins. But it didn’t end there. Jesus isn’t dead, but alive. His resurrection proves that he’s God and that he paid for all our sins.
Now the hard part. Time to personalize it. Think about God as your redeemer. The one who paid for all your screwups. Slipups. Sins. Let that sink in for a minute. Now, think about Jesus risen from the dead for you and me. All our sins: past, present, and future are all paid for.
That kind of forgiveness, the sheer weight of all our sin is now gone. Once and for all. No more guilt and shame before the God who made us. Who loves us. No wonder it’s called good news.
Is it any wonder that Mr. O turned his life around. So, how’s that good news turned your life around? Are you in that new chapter of your life? If not, what’s stopping you? What’s holding you back? Isn’t it time to update your life like Mr. O did?
Noodling Questions
How does God look at average people? Exceptional people? Explain.
Describe changing from one chapter in your life to another.
How is God’s forgiveness different than any other?
[1] Philemon 1:10,11
[2] Philemon 1:12
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