44 Days Through the New Testament – Day 34

2 Timothy 3 – Titus 1

We have been rolling through the New Testament! 10 Days left! Has it been a good experience? Has it been worth it? I think so. I was reminded again today of why an exercise like this is so important.

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

2 Timothy 3:16–17, ESV

Old and New Testament… ALL Scripture is breathed out by God.

Wow!

That was a good reminder for me today as I opened up the word of God and began pouring over it. What an absolute gift we have in the word of God! 

Titus 2 – Philemon

There is a lot going on in the brief, but bold letter we know as “Philemon”. 

Paul ran into Onesimus, who was actually a runaway slave technically belonging to Philemon. Onesimus wants to be with Paul, helping him with the work of the ministry, but Paul does not feel right about that because he knows that Onesimus should go back to Philemon to make things right. 

Talk about a mess!

So Paul wrote a letter to Philemon and sent Onesimus to personally deliver the letter himself. In the letter, Paul appeals to Philemon to be kind to Onesimus and to treat him as if he were Paul, himself. He goes as far as to say that if Onesimus has done Philemon any wrong, then Philemon should charge that to Paul’s relational account.

I love it. 

In the midst of all of this, Paul makes this incredible statement that I have personally camped out on for a while…

… I pray that the sharing of your faith may become effective for the full knowledge of every good thing that is in us for the sake of Christ.

Philemon 6, ESV

Other translations say something like, “I pray that you may be active in sharing your faith, so that you will have a full understanding of every good thing we have in Christ” (see NIV 1984).

I love that idea! Too many times we think that we need to have a full understanding of every good thing we have in Christ SO THAT we may be active in sharing our faith. It is interesting that Paul listed those two events in the exact opposite order.

Paul seems to be saying that the way to have a full understanding of every good thing that we already have in Christ is to become active in sharing our faith.

One plus one equals two. One plus two does not equal one. The sequence matters.

If you are a believer, if you have put your faith in Christ, then you have already been given every good thing in Christ! How do you access your full understanding of every good thing that you have in Christ? It seems to me that you access it by becoming active in sharing your faith.