DCLM Daily Manna 18 May 2025 Devotional By Pastor W. F. Kumuyi — The Power Of Restitution
TOPIC: The Power Of Restitution (DCLM Daily Manna 18 May 2025)
KEY VERSE: “I beseech thee for my son Onesimus, whom I have begotten in my bonds: Which in time past was to thee unprofitable, but now profitable to thee and to me” (Philemon 1:10,11).
TEXT: Philemon 1:9-14 (KJV)
9 Yet for love’s sake I rather beseech thee, being such an one as Paul the aged, and now also a prisoner of Jesus Christ.
10 I beseech thee for my son Onesimus, whom I have begotten in my bonds:
11 Which in time past was to thee unprofitable, but now profitable to thee and to me:
12 Whom I have sent again: thou therefore receive him, that is, mine own bowels:
13 Whom I would have retained with me, that in thy stead he might have ministered unto me in the bonds of the gospel:
14 But without thy mind would I do nothing; that thy benefit should not be as it were of necessity, but willingly.
MESSAGE:
A dramatic and touching event took place in Munich, Germany sometime in 1947. It was part of the triumphant true story of one courageous Christian woman who became a militant heroine of the anti-Nazi underground. Corrie ten Boom, a Dutch Christian, was imprisoned in a Nazi concentration camp during World War II for hiding hundreds of Jews fleeing Nazi brutality at their home in the Netherlands between 1940 and 1944. After the war, at a church service in Munich, she encountered one of her former Nazi guards who had become a Christian. He approached her, extending his hand in reconciliation and asking for forgiveness. Despite the immense pain and suffering she endured at the hands of the Nazis, Corrie chose to forgive him, illustrating the transforming power of forgiveness and reconciliation in promoting Christian love and unity.
The story of Corrie is profoundly amplified in our text today. It beams the light on the transformed and profitable life that must follow true salvation. Apostle Paul testifies to the new life of Onesimus, a slave who had become a Christian under his ministry while in Roman prison. Here, he reconciles the run-away servant to his former master. The transformation of life narrated in Paul’s message to Philemon confirms the positive impact of genuine conversion and the demonstrable fruit of repentance evidenced through a change of life and by willingness to correct all wrongs done in the past and reconciliation with the individuals wronged.
This practice of restitution authenticates our new life in Christ and the dedication to have a conscience void of offence toward God and toward all men. Restitution is not a one-off act or practice. We must understand that whenever we have the prompting of the Spirit to make amend, seek forgiveness, correct false statements, or refund money collected inappropriately, among other things, we must be willing to act accordingly. Paul the apostle himself demonstrated this in the course of his ministry (Acts 24:16).
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY
Restitution authenticates our salvation claim.
BIBLE IN ONE YEAR
Galatians 4-6
Deeper Life Daily Manna was written by Pastor W. F. Kumuyi; is the founder and General Superintendent of the Deeper Life Bible Church situated at KM 42 on the busy Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, Nigeria.
