“But I didn’t want to do anything without your consent, so that your good deed might not be out of obligation, but of your own free will.” (v. 14)

How do you handle difficult conversations?

One thing we can learn from this brief letter—and from Paul’s personal example—is this:

Believers in the church should be good at dialogue. Whatever it is, we have to be brave enough to bring it up, and to bring it up to the right person. We have to be both truthful and clear, and our humility ought to be equally honest. And we have to trust that Jesus-following, Spirit-filled, Bible-rooted brothers and sisters will engage in difficult matters with us, and with maturity.

Paul wrote to his friend in the church, literally asking the man to release an enslaved believer and let him leave. Paul did it with a view to Christ, and also with a determinedly personal perspective. But he didn’t strong-arm his friend or belittle the man’s faith or even quietly seethe about it. And he for sure didn’t gossip about it. He went to the one who could answer the question, and he asked in humility.

May we grow to be a church that does that. May we be brave, humble, and clear. May we trust one another. And may we show our maturity in Christ as we do it.

— Tyler