Your Name Comes Up

ByJim Stephens

Reading: Philemon; Psalm 139

4 Every time your name comes up in my prayers, I say, “Oh, thank you, God!” 5 I keep hearing of the love and faith you have for the Master Jesus, which brims over to other believers. 6 And I keep praying that this faith we hold in common keeps showing up in the good things we do, and that people recognize Christ in all of it. (Philemon 4-6 MSG)

Paul’s brief letter to Philemon, a key leader in the church at Colosse, was to be hand-carried to him by Onesimus, Philemon’s runaway slave. What an amazing story! Paul, a prisoner in Rome, encounters a runaway slave from Colosse, leads him to faith in Christ, then discovers he is the slave of Paul’s friend Philemon, a leader in the Colossian church. Paul then writes a letter of appeal to Philemon asking him to accept Onesimus back into his household, not merely as a slave, but as a brother in Christ. That’s one Paul story I’d like to know more about!

The friendship between Paul and Philemon was close enough that Paul thought of him frequently and included him in his prayers. What I really like about this is that every time Paul thought of Philemon, the thought prompted him to give God thanks for Philemon’s life of love, faith, godly influence, and acts of kindness and generosity.

Like Paul, I have good friends, some local to where I live, others around the world, for whom I thank God every time I think of them. It makes me want to make a world tour in my mind each morning as I am quiet with God, just so I can think of these friends and be thankful for them!

Then, that leads me to think about how those friends and others think about me! I wonder if there are those among my friends and acquaintances old and new, far and near, who pray for me from time to time, and every time they do, they thank God for me?

I want to be thought of by my friends as Paul thought of Philemon. I want to be thought of as a man whose life is characterized by love, faith, godly influence, and acts of kindness and generosity.

Prayer:

Father, It’s apparent to me that if I want to be thought of with thankfulness, I must live a life characterized by love, faith, godly influence, and acts of kindness and generosity. Please help me to live that kind of life from the heart. Amen.