PHILEMON VERSES 8-11
USEFUL
Philemon 8-11 (BSB) So although in Christ I am bold enough to order you to do what is proper, I prefer to appealG3870 on the basis of love. For I, Paul, am now aged, and a prisoner of Christ Jesus as well. I appeal to you for my child Onesimus, whose father I became while I was in chains. Formerly he was useless to you, but now he has become usefulG2173 both to you and to me.
G3870 parakalĕō – to call near, i.e. invite, invoke (by imploration, hortation, or consolation): – beseech, call for, (be of good) comfort, desire, (give) exhort (-ation), entreat, pray.
G2173 ĕuchrēstŏs – easily used, i.e. useful: – profitable, meet for use.
Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible
Onesimus was useless as a runaway slave,
but he became useful when his life to Christ he gave.
Paul pled his case with the master he had fled,
for he was now a son in the faith for whom the Lord had bled.
And as a brother in the Lord, he lived up to his name.
Onesimus means useful, and that’s what he became.
Jesus changed his heart through the message that he heard,
and Paul became his father through the sharing of God’s word.
Onesimus means useful, but he had become everything but useful or profitable to his master, Philemon. He had run away, possibly taking some goods with him. In God’s grace, he ran to Paul who was being held prisoner in Rome. Paul refers to him as becoming his son which means that Paul led him to the Lord and/or discipled him. The relationship Onesimus had found in Christ would make him profitable once more.
Like the prodigal son or the runaway slave, Onesimus, we often run from the Lord. Those who have not yet given their lives to Christ may view God as a stern master and flee from the legalism they often associate with the Christian religion. Like Paul, we need to lead them into that relationship with Jesus that makes them our brother or sister or child to nurture in the love of our Father. Then we must trust the Holy Spirit to make them useful to the Lord and their fellow man. We need to support them in their efforts to live a life pleasing to the Lord.
Sometimes those of us who know the Lord as Father still choose to walk away from the path on which he places us. It may seem to be too difficult or too much to bear. I (Susan) argued with God when He called me to be an ordained minister of the Gospel. I did not feel a woman, a DISABLED woman at that, would be accepted in the ministry. It took six years for me to stop running from my calling! We need to encourage each other to stay the course and trust Christ to care for us as we cast our cares on him. In the first chapter of Zechariah the Lord says, “Return to me, and I will return to you.” When we catch ourselves running away, we need to return to our loving Master, repent of our sins, and allow him to cleanse us (1 John 1:9).