Your Daily Devotional for September 23, 2006

 

September 23, 2006

 

 

Oh, the Injustice!

by Dr. Paul Chappell

 

 

“I beseech thee for my son Onesimus, whom I have begotten in my bonds:  Which in time past was to thee unprofitable, but now profitable to thee and to me: Whom I have sent again: thou therefore receive him, that is, mine own bowels: Whom I would have retained with me, that in thy stead he might have ministered unto me in the bonds of the gospel: But without thy mind would I do nothing; that thy benefit should not be as it were of necessity, but willingly. For perhaps he therefore departed for a season, that thou shouldest receive him for ever; Not now as a servant, but above a servant, a brother beloved, specially to me, but how much more unto thee, both in the flesh, and in the Lord?”

 

 

Philemon 10-16

 

 

We have all been mistreated at some time or another. This world has abounded with injustice and hatred from the crusades of the Europeans, to the murderous Ottoman Empire, to the slavery of early America, to the horrific killings of Hitler and Stalin

 

Paul was under house arrest in Rome as he wrote this letter to Philemon. While in Rome, he had met a runaway slave named Onesimus. During this time, there were some 600,000 slaves in the Roman Empire. Onesimus, like many slaves, had escaped to Rome to hide in the vast crowds.

 

When we think of slavery, we usually think of how wrong it is and how we would never condone it, but think about what slavery involves. Slavery usually involves one person treating another badly by putting them down with words or actions. You may not have ever taken part in the act of slavery, but have you ever spoken badly of someone? Our words can hold someone captive; they can make a person feel as if they are worthless.

 

Yes, we scream injustice when someone wrongs us. We will complain that life isn’t fair and that those who hurt us deserve just punishment, but do we feel the same way when we hurt someone else? We should never get to the point where our words fly so quickly from our mouths that we do not even realize what we are saying.

 

A few years ago, the Harry S. Truman Library in Independence, Missouri, made public 1,300 recently discovered letters that the late President wrote to his wife, Bess, over the course of a half-century. Mr. Truman had a lifelong rule of writing to his wife every day they were apart. He followed this rule whenever he was away on official business or whenever Bess left Washington to visit her hometown. Every day he was away, the President of the United States took time from his dealing with the world's most powerful leaders to sit down and write a letter to his wife. 

Words will last a lifetime whether they are kind or unkind. It does not matter if you quickly apologize for some unkind thing you said, people will remember those harsh words. We must be so careful to guard our words for they can build up or tear down a person. Determine today that you will be someone who helps encourage people with your words instead of discouraging them. Who can you encourage? Take time today to let them know that you care!

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