Paul asks a big favor from Philemon in the letter that Paul writes him about Onesimus. Beyond the favor that he asks Philemon to take Onesimus onto his team, he is looking for full commitment from Philemon. Paul knows that without Philemon’s commitment that the request will likely fail and worse yet, Onesimus will not be successful. At work we don’t always think how important it is that everyone is fully bought into a project or decision. We tend to get enough heads nodding up and down in a meeting that we think we have full commitment and we get going, only to find out later that not everyone was totally onboard and things go south. No where does this show up more than in the hiring process. The best hiring is done when lots of people agree totally and everyone is in consensus and alignment on the person and what she/he will be expected to do in their new job. When we don’t have that full consensus, commitment and alignment then it tends to end up with the person not doing so well on their job, not getting full support and sometimes ultimately failing at their job. What a tragedy this is for the person and their family. And it could have been avoided had we just been more diligent in getting everyone’s full commitment. In Paul’s request, he was asking Philemon to take on a new team member and Paul knew how important it was to have Philemons’ full commitment, otherwise, Onesimus would likely fail. Paul says this to Philemon in verse 8: “But I didn’t want to do anything without your consent. I wanted you to help because you were willing, not because you were forced.” How great would it be to hear those kinds of words in the office more often? Sometimes we hear them, but we can hear right through them as being hollow, because we know the boss really doesn’t care and is just giving lip service. That will always happen as there are many people who we cannot put our trust. But, we can be different kinds of leaders. We can be like Paul and be honest, open and caring with the people he worked. If Paul was our boss and he said the above to us, we would feel very empowered and willing to walk through walls for him. That is the kind of leader we should all be. Paul’s lessons in the book of Philemon are great. There are a couple of more to be explored next week. For now, let them sink in and see what can become a part of your leadership skill set.

Reference: Philemon 1:14 (New Living Testament)