He thought it was a great idea to slip away when his master was not looking. So, at the opportune time, Onesimus fled away as fast as he could. He was now free from his master and the work he had been responsible for.

I do not believe in luck, but I sure do believe in providence, and God saw to that somehow Onesimus met the Apostle Paul. Apparently from what we read in the Bible, the runaway servant listened to the teaching of Paul who, of course, told him about Jesus Christ.

Perhaps Paul reiterated the words of the Savior, "If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed." (John 8:36). Nonetheless, as he listened to the Word of God by the Holy Spirit through Paul, Onesimus realized he was not really free.

According to Philemon v. 10, Onesimus committed his life to Christ. It appears in v.11 that he told Paul he had not been a very good servant to Philemon. "Onesimus" means profitable, and Paul wrote by the Spirit in v.11, "In time past he was to thee unprofitable, but now profitable to thee and to me."

As you read the epistle to Philemon, you will see that it is apparent that Onesimus would have been along when the epistle (letter) was delivered to Philemon.

Here, a man who ran away from his master now does the right thing and returns to his master because he is now a child of God. That is true freedom -- doing what God wants.

You might have in your mind that freedom means doing what you want. However, if we examine life from the basis of the Word of God we will see that we are either in the kingdom of darkness or in the kingdom of God's dear Son. We are in one kingdom or the other, and there is no in between. And, "kingdom" indicates a king is ruling a given domain.

In other words, if we have not made a commitment to Christ, we are in the kingdom of darkness, and our king would be satan. Those that do not belong to Christ think they have a lot freedom, but where will it lead? It will lead to an eternity of damnation.

Don't let the devil fool you by making you think if you commit to Christ you will not free. Trust in the words of Christ that you will be free indeed.

If you have committed your life to Christ, rejoice in the fact that you are free from sin, the sin nature, condemnation and damnation.