And I am praying that you will put into action the generosity that comes from your faith as you understand and experience all the good things we have in Christ.(New Living Translation).

Looking around at different translations of verse 6, I get the impression that there are alternate ways of expressing what Paul is writing here. I’m quoting from the NLT because I think it quite succinctly expresses the heart of his letter. While acknowledging and affirming all that Philemon so lovingly does out of the overflow of his faith, he has a big ask of him regarding the runaway slave Onesimus. There is in this letter both the request, and the expectation, that Philemon will show great generosity of heart towards his former servant.

At the back of all of this there lies an understanding that theology is to be lived; truth is to be embodied. The more we understand who we are and what we have in Christ, the more this should affect our behaviour.

Paul calls for the Word in action.

How we treat people matters. Let’s tenaciously hold on to this. We can’t get away with saying we love God if we don’t love our brother (or sister) – even the one who has wronged us.

‘That’s the thing about faith. It works.’ Lauren Oliver.

I always thank my God as I remember you in my prayers, 5 because I hear about your love for all his holy people and your faith in the Lord Jesus. 6 I pray that your partnership with us in the faith may be effective in deepening your understanding of every good thing we share for the sake of Christ. 7 Your love has given me great joy and encouragement, because you, brother, have refreshed the hearts of the Lord’s people.

(Every time your name comes up in my prayers, I say, “Oh, thank you, God!” I keep hearing of the love and faith you have for the Master Jesus, which brims over to other believers. 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. Friend, you have no idea how good your love makes me feel, doubly so when I see your hospitality to fellow believers. The Message).

Someone observed that we are saved by faith alone. Nevertheless the faith that saves does not come alone. It does not turn up unaccompanied. Again and again in Paul’s letters faith and love ‘walk out’ together; they go hand in hand, arm in arm.

Philemon’s faith in Christ showed itself in love for others – and ‘Love Does.’

‘Love Does’ is the title of a book by Bob Goff.

Among other things, Philemon’s love overflowed in hospitality. He opened his home to the church, and to individuals, such as Paul (22). The apostle knew there would be a welcome for him at this address. Philemon was a human oasis in the desert of the world. To be around him was to find encouragement and experience refreshment.

In short, then, if we have faith in Jesus, this will spill over in love for others; and if we love them we will work for their benefit – even at cost to ourselves. (See verse 6 in ‘The Message).

Ethel Barrett correctly observed, ‘Christianity is as practical as a pair of shoes: not just for putting on and showing, but for getting up and going.’

Prayer: Loving Lord Jesus, in this new year help me to be someone who refreshes others.

PHILIP YANCEY

The old man Simeon, who recognized the baby as the Messiah, instinctively understood that conflict would surely follow. “This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against…” he said, and then made the prediction that a sword would pierce Mary’s own soul. Somehow Simeon sensed that though on the surface little had changed – the autocrat Herod still ruled, Roman troops were still stringing up patriots, Jerusalem still overflowed with beggars – underneath everything had changed. A new force had arrived to undermine the world’s powers.

JÖRG ZINK

EBERHARD ARNOLD

The coming of the deliverer among people who groan under their need in loneliness and death must truly be a source of abundant joy. One is born who brings us the greatest thing of all: fellowship with the living God! Here is One who through his life and death brings God to all those who are willing to accept him. Christ’s birth was a prelude to his death. The lowliness of his birth, the immediate persecution by Herod, and the terrible massacre at Bethlehem – these are the signs over the manger signifying the life that awaited him; they are the sign of the cross. But they are also the sign that the broken bond between us and God will be restored.

PHILIP BRITTS

When the angel Gabriel came to Mary, he told her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.” And she answered, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.” It was in this submission, this surrender and obedience, that Christ was conceived. And it is the laying down of power that is revealed in his birth.…This pattern of complete abandonment of human strength in total surrender to God’s will is of vital importance for us. It was in the surrender of herself to God that Mary became the mother of Christ. It was in her acceptance of Gabriel’s message that the great decisive event of history took place. And in our own lives, in our efforts to do right, what is decisive is that we accept and live by and surrender ourselves to a strength which is not our own, to the piercing white light of God’s love.

PHILIP BRITTS

We have not come like Eastern kings
With gifts upon the pommel lying.
Our hands are empty, and we came
Because we heard a baby crying.

We have not come like questing knights
With fiery swords and banners flying.
We heard a call and hurried here –
The call was like a baby crying.

But we have come with open hearts
From places where the torch is dying.
We seek a manger and a cross
Because we heard a baby crying.

”O child, Creator of all! How humbly you lie in the manger. You who rule powerfully in heaven! There the heaven of heavens cannot contain you; here, however, you are held in the narrowest manger. There, in the beginning of the world, you decorated the earth with green grasses that produced seed, with fruit-bearing trees that produced fruit, you ornamented the heavens with the sun, the moon, and the stars, the sky with winged birds, the waters with fish, you filled the land with reptiles, draft animals, and beasts; here, however, in the end of the world, you are wrapped in swaddling clothes! O majesty! O lowness! O sublimity! O humility! O immense, eternal, and Ancient of Days! O small, temporal infant whose life is not yet one day upon the earth!” Adam of Dryburgh

”Christ’s true greatness is that he is coming. Without this final future the whole of Christian faith would really be nothing. If only our hearts were completely gripped by this! Surely, in light of what is wrong in today’s world, we should all stretch out our hands toward that which is to come, so that at last the world may be redeemed from all its horrors and the dawn of the new day may break. We are placed on this earth in order to proclaim, in the midst of darkness, this message: The Morning Star has risen in my heart, in our hearts, and soon will rise over the whole of the darkened world. Repent! Believe in the gospel! He who is coming is near!” Eberhard Arnold.