I am sending him (Onesimus) who is my very heart - back to you. I would have liked to keep him with me so that he could take your place in helping me while I am in chains for the gospel. But I did not want to do anything without your consent, so that any favor you do will be spontaneous and not forced. Perhaps the reason he was separated from you for a little while was that you might have him back for good - no longer as a slave, but better than a slave, as a dear brother. he is very dear to me but even dearer to you, both as a man and as a brother in The Lord. (Philemon 12 - 16).
Here we see the beauty of Christian Conversation, where mutual respect, grace, persuasive love all come into play in helping resolve conflict and also in helping someone make a good decision. We never find out how this all actually turns out - whether Philemon releases Onesimus from being a slave or not, but my strong hunch is that he does - that he does the right thing. If he didn't, I doubt the letter would have been kept and put into the New Testament Canon.
Question: do I/you generally seek to use these qualities to persuade?
One more thing: thanks for all you did to make our Thanksgiving basket gifts (1300 of them!) a bountiful blessing to so many families. Your generosity was amazing!
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