I appeal to you for my child, Onesimus, whose father I became in my imprisonment.(Formerly he was useless to you, but now he is indeed useful to you and to me.) Philemon 1:10-11 ESV
People can change. Not on their own, but by the grace of God. In his letter to Philemon, Paul appealed for Onesimus, a person once useless for Philemon, who left with not so good memories nor reputation, had encoutered God and have turned a leaf in his life. Paul, like God gave Onesimus a shot at life. And Paul was appealing to Philemon for the same. In the course of life, we will not meet all people at their best. There might be some that we will meet before they met Christ. there are some that we will meet at their worse. We can give up on them or forever brand them in our minds... or we can brush it away. Do not put labels on people. When someone deceives you, be careful the next time... but give room for the grace and the power of God to change him. If we say people will not change anymore, then we have judged them already. On our part, when we say "well, this who I am since i was a child" then, we have undermined the transforming power of the word of God and his grace. It does not matter if we behave one way since we were kids up to this time. The Bible tells me that when people becomes in Christ, they become new creations. Give people a chance to change. And when changes are already evident, give them the benefit of the doubt. 26 December
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