Archives: 2005

Paul heard from others that Philemon was a man of love and faith.

“Hearing of thy love and faith, which thou hast toward the Lord Jesus, and toward all saints” (Philemon 1:5).

What do people hear about Mark Roth? Not either of those, I’m sure.

Why not?

And what can I do about it?

Maybe those questions can hang unanswered in my mind for a while.

Something else about Philemon’s reputation impresses me this morning.

Love toward Jesus and all saints I can understand.

Faith toward Jesus I can understand.

But faith toward all saints?

Apparently Philemon was a man who trusted his fellow believers. He had faith in them. He was affirming of and encouraging toward them.

I also infer from this that Philemon was one to build up instead of tear down. When visiting with Brother A, he would try to build up Brother A’s view of and esteem for Brother B.

“To speak evil of no man, to be no brawlers, but gentle, shewing all meekness unto all men” (Titus 3:2).

No evil speech of anyone.

Oh my.

I wonder if my Spanish Bible will soften that somehow, maybe give me a bigger loophole for saying uncomplimentary-though-not-evil things of others.

“That they defame nobody.”

Gulp! That doesn’t make the loophole bigger — it outright closes it!

So I guess I’ll have to opt for gentleness and meekness in my speech about others.

That’s going to be tough.

For some reason, that reminds me of this:

“Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me” (Psalm 52:10).

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