“Thou shalt not oppress an hired servant that is poor and needy, whether he be of thy brethren, or of thy strangers that are in thy land within thy gates:”
Deuteronomy 24:14 KJV
In the culture that we live in, it is easy to fall into the trap of treating servants as lesser beings, sometimes being harsh and unkind to them. God teaches us to be compassionate and kind to all, regardless of their status. In the new covenant, Paul put this into practice. In jail, he had come across the runaway slave, Onesimus, whom he led to Christ. Paul found out that Onesimus had stolen and run away from Philemon his trusted friend who was head of a home church in Colossae. So Paul got Onesimus to go to Philemon with a letter, saying, “welcome Onesimus, no longer as a slave, but more than that, as a dearly loved brother. He is that to me especially, and how much more so to you, both humanly speaking and in the Lord. So if you consider me your friend and partner, accept him the same way you would accept me. And if he has stolen anything from you or owes you anything, just place it on my account.” Such is the love of Christ in us that motivates us to treat those who work for us as equals before God. Let’s be kind and compassionate just like Jesus is, to our fellow beings, treating them with respect. Amen!
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