Re-Think

Jesus, the Son of God, to God, the Father in Heaven.

I always am grate­ful for you, because you have sus­tained me and car­ried me through so many tri­als and temp­ta­tions, through pain and dif­fi­cul­ties. You have given me power and per­se­ver­ance when it was nec­es­sary, and deliv­ered me from the grasp of death.

Because of this, it would be within my power to tell you what you should do, but instead I’m appeal­ing to you on the basis of love. I, as Jesus – your slain and res­ur­rected Son – appeal to you for my sons and daugh­ters, who have put their faith in me and in my power. For­merly they were sin­ners, now they have been redeemed by grace. I am send­ing them to come before you, so that you, too, can expe­ri­ence the joy I have expe­ri­enced. I am not forc­ing you, or com­mand­ing you, but giv­ing them to you with a smile on my face. While they used to be sep­a­rated from you, it was only for a time so that they could come to you in full­ness – not as a sin­ner but as a redeemed child. I love them with all my heart. So, as your Son and part­ner, wel­come them as you have always wel­comed me.

As they have dis­obeyed and done things wrong, I will step in and pay the penalty for them. Know­ing that you will wel­come them and go fur­ther by lav­ish­ing your love, joy, and bless­ings on them, I thank you.

This let­ter is based on the for­mat and out­line of Phile­mon. When I wrote it, it blew my mind to think about Jesus’ rela­tion­ship to us in this way. It made me seri­ously re-think things. I hope it does for you as well.

Tak­ing Heart,

Paul Loewen