In yesterday’s meditation we met a young man called Onesimus, who thought that he could steal from his master, Philemon, and then escape to get lost in the crowds of Rome. He discovered, however, that there was NO HIDING PLACE from God. Perhaps you might think that it is just by chance that you have found your way today to this Hope4Bath website. Have you stopped to consider that it is God who has led you here? In a remarkable way, God brought Onesimus face to face with an elderly and imprisoned apostle, Paul. There was nothing of chance about this meeting. Naturally speaking, the possibility of these two men ever meeting each other in the vast and heavily populated city of Rome was practically nil. However, the seemingly impossible became a reality and God brought the two together.

Paul preached the gospel (good news) of God’s salvation through faith in Jesus Christ, which Onesimus had, no doubt, heard many times in the home of Philemon, his Christian master. However, here, somewhere in the streets of Rome, he turned in repentance toward God and trusted Jesus Christ as his Saviour from sin. It was, indeed, a life-changing experience for him. Suddenly, he heard Paul describing him in a letter to Philemon, not as a criminal, but as ‘a beloved brother . . . in the Lord’, verse 16. As a Christian, albeit only for a short time, he now faced the responsibility of returning to Colossae and facing Philemon once again and also other Christians, who met together to worship God in his house. It is, indeed, a life-changing moment when you trust Jesus Christ as your Saviour. It gives you a completely new outlook on life!

Are you trusting in Christ as your Saviour? Would you like to know more? Please contact us and we will gladly send you a Bible wherever you are. We will pray for you. Come back again for another Message of Hope.