AND EVEN MORE

Today's reading: Philemon

"I am confident as I write this letter that you will do what I ask and even more!" Philemon verse 21 NLT

Aah, the little book of Philemon.

A mere page and a half in my study Bible.

Twenty-two power packed verses--not even enough verses to divide out into chapters!

But out of all the things Paul says in his letter to Philemon, this single verse has stopped me in my tracks.

Paul offers Philemon encouragement. He writes words of cheer. He gives his a run-down of how things are going for him and the believers where he is at. He instructs Philemon in some matters of forgiveness in regards to his former slave, Onesimus.

Then?

Then, he pens this single verse...

I am confident as I write this letter that you will do what I ask and even more!

That's a pretty tall order, don't you think?

To forgive a slave that left you high and dry...

To forgive a servant who very well might have stolen goods from your household...

To forgive someone who, in the society in which they lived, was considered 'beneath' him...

And to do much more than that?

In a nutshell, isn't that what God is asking of us in regards to His Word, His letter to us--the Bible?

To do what it says--and more.

To obey its commands--and more.

To love like He asks us to love--and more.

And He asks us because He knows that with His Spirit inside us, we can do it!