8 Greet Ampliatus, my beloved in the Lord.
9 Greet Urbanus, our fellow worker in Christ, and my beloved Stachys. (Romans 16:8–9, ESV)
I’ve been copying out the book of Romans in a little Field Notes plastic indestructible notepad. I’ve kind of been doing a verse a day, but by that I mean not a verse every day, just that when I do it, I only do one verse. I started in January, by the way, and now it is the end of October and I’m wrapping it up.
I’m in Chapter 16, the last chapter, and I was writing tiny to make sure it all fit. It looks like I’ll have about one blank page. I’m fully prepared for the ending to be completely boring. Not much revelation going to come from the closing greetings and housekeeping, right?
Wrong.
It’s God’s word. Nothing in there is a waste. Not even Leviticus or Chronicles.
So today I copied down 2 verses. Seriously. I cheated. Here they are.
8 Greet Ampliatus, my beloved in the Lord.
9 Greet Urbanus, our fellow worker in Christ, and my beloved Stachys.
(Romans 16:8–9, ESV)
I’ve been actively pursuing Christ since 1993. I’ve participated in various churches and ministries all over the world. I’ve been full-time church staff, support raising missionary, bi-vocational pastor, and complete no-credit/no-honor laity.
I’ve been burned plenty of times. I’ve been betrayed to my face and behind my back. I’ve had members of my own staff keep secrets so they could take my place the day I was escorted out of the building for “not filling in my time card.” I’ve been left out of big ministry decisions that I was usually in on because “you sided with {name} so we didn’t trust your discernment.” You know what I did to show my side? I gave feedback on leadership decisions.
Boom.
The list goes on.
So in the small town of Evansville, Indiana, where it’s hard to follow Jesus and not rub elbows with somebody that has done me wrong. (“compassion isn’t profitable.” I can’t forget that one!) It’s hard to not go to some Christian event or Bible study and not have someone bring up a so-called notable local Christian leader that has used their power to do wrong. I know too much!
So when I copied out these verses today, I was encouraged. Some people get to be my fellow workers, and some get to be my loved ones.
I have the pressure to forgive those that have sinned against me. “You have to forgive them!” Some folks have said.
Did Paul forgive Elymas, also known as Bar-Jesus, when God struck Elymas blind for his lies? “Paul, you have to forgive Elymas. You can’t see his heart.”
Blind.
The same Paul that wrote
“Alexander the coppersmith did me much harm; the Lord will repay him according to his deeds. Be on guard against him yourself, for he vigorously opposed our teaching.”
Then wrote
“At my first defense no one supported me, but all deserted me; may it not be counted against them.”
So some people get to be beloved, some are fellow workers, some we’ll just leave to be repayed by the Lord, and finally, some we pray that their failures not be counted against them.
That gives me a lot of peace and relief from people telling me “You have to forgive them!”
As always with Jesus, there isn’t a formula. We draw our will near to His will. We get conformed into the image of the Son Who God Loves. And everything, even conflicts and other people’s failures. And thank the Lord, even every single one of my failures . Works together. God is busy.
