Bible Business Principal

Philemon 1 “Paul, a prisoner of Jesus Christ, and Timothy our brother, unto Philemon our dearly beloved, and fellow laborer,”

After Paul talks to Philemon about his prisoner status he then talks to him about the way he feels about him. He calls him “dearly beloved” and a “fellow laborer”.

By saying that he was dearly beloved, he was letting Philemon know that he had his best interest at heart. He was concerned about what was going on in his life and only wanted the best for him in all things. The truth is that people don’t really care what you say unless they know that you really care. By starting out by letting Philemon know that he cared the potential that he would listen was much greater.

Next he calls him a “fellow laborer”. Far too many leaders lead from a pedestal of leadership, I’m up here and you’re below me, down there. There are definitely times when the leader must push down what needs to be done, but you will find that it is much easier to get work accomplished if you put yourself as a co-laborer with your people.

In an organization, when all the members are going in the same direction and people know that you are concerned about them as people, progress is made. The questions you need to ask yourself are:

1.??????Do you really care about people? Do you think about the impact of you ask them to do? Are they “dearly beloved”?

2.??????Do you feel that everyone in your organization is working toward and pushing for the common goal and good of the organization? Do you consider yourself to be a cog in the wheel or the entire wheel?

Paul was getting ready to give Philemon some very hard advice and direction. In order to get the response he wanted he needed to make sure that he had prepared him to hear what was being said and why it was the right thing to do.