DCLM Daily Manna 2025: DCLM Daily Manna 15 May 2025: Blessing of Communication
Text: Philemon 1:1-6 (KJV)
Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother,
To Philemon our beloved friend and fellow laborer, 2to the beloved Apphia, Archippus our fellow soldier, and to the church in your house:
3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
4 I thank my God, making mention of you always in my prayers, 5 hearing of your love and faith which you have toward the Lord Jesus and toward all the saints, 6 that the sharing of your faith may become effective by the acknowledgment of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus.
KEY VERSE: (Philemon 1:6) That the communication of thy faith may become effectual by the acknowledging of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus.
An elderly Christian woman would not allow the predicaments of distance and her illiteracy to deny her from getting in touch with her son, who lived in the city some hundreds of kilometres away. So, periodically, she would dictate a letter to a student in the family or community to be written and sent to her son. The message would bear a mother’s loving counsel for the young man and news about how the household fared. The mother would also let the city dweller know what the family needed for their upkeep. Naturally, being a Christian, the parent would end with a plea that her boy should live a godly life.
The village woman’s habit is similar to the tradition of Apostle Paul, who, in prison in Rome, needed to reach his Christian friend, Philemon in Colosse. This was a distance of over 2092 kilometres. Only a letter could do the work. Paul wrote to Philemon essentially to plead for forgiveness for Philemon’s runaway servant, Onesimus. In doing so, he extols Philemon’s faith, love, and Christian charity which he heard about from another source. This correspondence broke down the wall of separation between the two believers.
Today, the world is enjoying closer togetherness, and we are practically living in a global village. Modern technology has helped to break down the communication barriers. With a button on a small device in our hands, we can now instantly reach people in very distant lands. This can be of immense benefit to the Church of Christ.
The good news can now be relayed to every corner of the earth without the evangelists stepping out of their closets. There are no spatial inhibitions like Paul’s, like his letter having to be hand-delivered. We must use this technological advantage by flooding the airwaves with the gospel message of hope for humanity through faith in Jesus, the Son of God. God certainly allowed the emergence of these modern communication technologies to speed up the spread of the gospel.
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: Modern communication technologies amount to little if they cannot be deployed for the gospel.
THE BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: 2 Corinthians 5-9
Daily Manna 15 May 2025
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