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Daily Devotion: Philemon 1:1-3

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Philemon 1:1-3    "Paul, a prisoner of Jesus Christ, and Timothy our brother, unto Philemon our dearly beloved, and fellow labourer,  (2)  And to our beloved Apphia, and Archippus our fellowsoldier, and to the church in thy house:  (3)  Grace to you, and peace, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ."

We begin a study of the little book of Philemon. Though it only has one chapter, there are many rich thoughts contained within this book. The first thought comes in the first few words of the first verse: "Paul, a prisoner of Jesus Christ". The word, prisoner, does not always bring nice thoughts to our minds; yet in this context it carries a wonderful thought. I am a prisoner of the Lord Jesus Christ.  Please do not think that Paul wrote this in a negative context.

We sometimes place ourselves in the prisons of the world. We allow emotions to be the motivation for our conduct. We allow habits to encase us and drive us from day to day. All these things do carry that negative thought because they cause us to do things that are negative and derogatory to our well-being. But human nature's weakness is such that habits, addictions, sin can place us in the prison of life.

The idea of being "a prisoner of Jesus Christ" is not one that promotes imprisonment as we know it; rather, we are set free in Christ Jesus. "If the son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed." He sets us free from the prisons of this world that drag us down. He sets us free from the habits that we cannot seem to shake. He sets us free from addictions that the mind wraps around and we cannot handle.

So to be a prisoner of the Lord Jesus Christ tells us that we have been bound to Christ by a covenant, a promise, that was made through the unconditional grace of God. The Lord entered into that promise in order to keep us in Him and to promote within us the desire to stay close to Him.

My question this morning is this: What is my prison? To whom, or to what, am I imprisoned?  If I cannot answer that I am the prisoner of the Lord Jesus Christ, then I truly need to stop and seek my Lord that I might walk in the liberty wherewith He has made me free. He stands with open arms saying to you and to me this morning, "Come unto me all ye who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest."  You see the prisons of the world weigh us down. Christ sets us free of those weights.

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