Home With Christ

DEVOTION
PHILIMON
HOME WITH CHRIST
Philem 22 - 25
22 And one thing more: Prepare a guest room for me, because I hope to be restored to you in answer to your prayers. 23 Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, sends you greetings. 24 And so do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas and Luke, my fellow workers. 25 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. NIV
What could be here for me? I do not think I could prepare a guest room for Paul, but perhaps I could prepare a room for Christ. This I already have done many years ago when I first invited him in. I do wonder though is it just a guest room or have I invited him to the whole house? I know I talk as most other believers I know about Jesus being the Lord of my life, but really have I given him complete freedom to have his way within my being? Do I hold out portions of my own self? In other words have I restricted Christ to the guest room only? I surely hope not, for that is not my intention, but I do have to consider the possibility when I exert my own way. Maybe he is free to move about the whole of me, but I simply do not pay attention to his presence at certain times. Now I know it is not really Jesus, but the Holy Spirit that dwells within my being, then again they are one. It really makes no difference as to the title, the facts still remain regarding the guest room, the whole house, his influence and my responsiveness to his presence. Are there times when I tell him, “Go to your room” and then do my own thing? The other concept I do see here is being a captive in Christ Jesus. Was Paul a real prisoner of Rome, or a prisoner in Christ Jesus? Was Epaphras actually in chains placed by Rome, or simply a captive in Christ Jesus? Were they in house arrest in the physical or in the spiritual? Surely both is the case, but should not I be in house arrest in Christ? Should I not be his captive, his prisoner? If so, then I am not at liberty to move about on my own. I do not have the freedom to do my own thing, but should always be under the guidance of keeper. What about my freedom in Christ? There I have all the freedom I could every need. I can move about within him all I want, being and doing as his influence dictates. But I should not have the freedom outside, yet he allows me to if I choose so. It is a thin door between the two and maybe I have one foot one on each side being able to sway either direction at a moment’s notice. It comes down to my desire to stay home with Christ.