Good morning. It’s Wednesday, February 4th, aka National Women in Sports Day.

🥳 Congratulations on starting today with God, and thank you for letting us be a part of it.

📖 Verse Of The Day

— Philemon 1:6

🧠 Devotional

The book of Philemon is one of the lesser known books in the Bible. It sits between the books of Titus and Hebrews, near the end of the New Testament, which makes it easy to overlook.

It is part of Paul’s letters and was written by Paul the Apostle. Out of the 13 letters traditionally attributed to Paul in the New Testament, Philemon is the last one listed. It is also the shortest. In most Bibles, it does not even take up a full page.

Because it is so short, you might wonder why it is included in the Bible at all. Why not just combine it with another book?

The answer is simple. This is how Paul wrote. He wrote separate letters to specific people and churches, and those letters were kept as individual writings. Philemon is its own book because it is its own letter, written to one person about one specific situation (Philemon 1:1).

Philemon was a Christian and likely a leader in the church that met in his home (Philemon 1:2). That matters because this letter was not written to someone unknown. It was written to someone whose actions would be noticed by others.

The letter focuses on a man named Onesimus. Paul says Onesimus became a believer through him (Philemon 1:10), and Paul is now sending him back to Philemon. Paul writes this letter while he is imprisoned (Philemon 1:1), which adds weight to what he says.

Instead of ordering Philemon what to do, Paul appeals to him “on the basis of love” (Philemon 1:8–9). He asks Philemon to receive Onesimus “no longer as a slave, but better than a slave, as a dear brother” (Philemon 1:16). The letter shows how faith plays out in a real and personal situation.

In the end, Philemon reminds us that faith is not just about what we believe. It is also about how we treat people, especially when doing the loving thing is difficult.