iSleep

¹⁹ I, Paul, am writing this with my own hand… Philemon 1:19a (NIV)

I love to write.  My dream had been to write devotionals (so what you’re reading now is a dream come true.).  And my other dream is to write fiction.  I have a lot of creative ideas that I’d love to get on paper:  Like a book about a guy who’s trying to tell you a story from his vantage point.  The problem is that he’s got a bad case of ADHD and his thoughts are often scattered but his story is so spectacular so you want to hear what happens next.  Or the comic book superhero for us Latin kids who turns into cockroach-man when he eats at tainted empanada.  There’s the present day homicide mystery of a giant found in a field, dead.  But the one I thought of lately had to do with a new Apple devise called the iSleep that you strap on your head during your sleep and your body does work that you don’t want to do during the day, all while you sleep.  Imagine the possibilities:  Hate grocery shopping?  Do it while you sleep.  Don’t like exercising?  Do it while you sleep.  How about work all day and all night while you sleep.  The possibilities are endless.  Of course a substantial problem arises and a huge conspiracy is uncovered.  But I won’t give anymore away.  You’ll have to buy the book when it comes out.

There is so much we’d love to not have to do that we must (that’s what stared my iSleep idea).  If only I could get other people to so for me what I don’t like to do.  But some things I just can’t.  Like, no one can eat for me.  No one can exercise for me (which is frustrating because there’s people out there who love to do it).  No one can go to school for me.  No one can sleep for me.  There are some decisions that only I can make.  And there are some tough conversations that only can have with people.

This is where Paul’s coming from in today’s verse.  Paul wrote this letter himself.  Why is that important?  It was rare.  Paul had others write what he’d tell them:  Like Romans (Romans 16:22), Luke and Acts where written by Luke’s hand but were really from Paul, and Thessalonians, Corinthians, and Colossians were written by others though signed by Paul (2 Thessalonians 3:17, 1 Corinthians 16:21, Colossians 4:18).

But Paul wrote all of Philemon himself.  Why?  This was a personal, important, sensitive situation that required a personal touch.  In it Paul promised things that Philemon could have questioned their validity had someone else wrote the letter.

My question for you today is:  What are you putting off that only you can do?  What do you push off on others to do that needs to be coming from you?  What difficult things are you hiding from?  Is there a relationship that’s needing your mending?  Are you missing out on an opportunity to grow or be stretched?  Is someone else missing out because you’re not stepping up?

Questions to consider:

Why is inaction easy?

How does doing what’s hard grow us?

What are you putting off?