The Devotional - A Look at the Book #707

The Devotional - A Look at the Book #707

by Jesse Abel

Today is a new day and because God is faithful we can be sure that His compassions for us will not fail and that His mercy will be as fresh as a new morning. God does not fail. When saints fail, it will be that soul who cries out; “The LORD is my portion therefore I have hope.” Restoration begins with seeking the LORD. This could be your personal or national reflections this morning; seek the LORD, while He can be found. Lamentations 3:1-51

Someone said that emotions are the spice of life. I would answer that too much spice in any dish will cause heartburn!

The man was a national surfing champion, a concert violinist, tennis pro, and a movie stunt man; and he was also a notorious jewel thief and convicted murderer. His name, you may have already guessed is Jack Roland Murphy. Nicknamed; Murf the Surf! I met him in the nineties with the Bill Glass Prison Ministry called “Weekend of Champions” Of the five events that I went to, Murphy was at all five.

There is a motion picture produced about his life, it is called “The Jack Murphy Testimony” and if you have further interest in the man you might like to pull up http://prisonministry.com/article203.html he is no longer travelling from prison to prison preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ, he is retired, but here is one of the statements he used in his testimony to the inmates. “If you are not doing God’s business, you are just doing time; the way out of doing time is the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ the LORD.”

Looking again at the epistle of Philemon and the man Onesimus there is a likness of these two men; Jack Murphy and Onesimus, both were incarcerated for crimes committed, both had broken the law of man and the Law of God. Both were released and while we do not know the extent of the crimes of Onesimus we do know those of Mr. Murphy, if fact; Mr. Murphy was serving two life sentences and should still be in jail, yet by the grace and perfect Will of God; Mr. Murphy is paroled and to this day is required to report to his parole officer each week.

Because I know the man I see many parallels in Onesimus and Jack. The apostle Paul states that Onesimus is useful in the ministry of the gospel; that he was once unprofitable, but now is profitable. That the attributes of the man that were used for crime were now being put to use from a changed character. The apostle Paul could identify with this too, since in a same manner his life was changed. I am certain that Paul’s plea to Philemon was similar to the plea that Ananias heard first hand from the LORD in Acts 9.

Philemon 1:1-25 gives us instruction on how react like Ananias or Philemon when God changes the heart of a man or woman who has spent a lifetime of sin and rebellion. Now you may be saying… who could that be? Well if you are not saved… go look in the mirror; if you are saved, but living in sin… go look in the mirror. If you are saved and walking in the light of the word and in the power of the Holy Spirit! Don’t forget to go and look in the mirror, and this is not a plug for the song. “The man in mirror” although it is the man in the mirror, isn’t it! James 1:21-27