In his shortest and most personal letter, Paul writes to a slave-owning Christian, Philemon, on behalf of Onesimus, his runaway slave who has also become a Christian and is a valued helper to Paul. The letter is a challenge to Philemon to count the cost of following Jesus, either by taking Onesimus back or releasing him for Christ’s service.

This week we consider the cost of following Jesus in our daily lives and how doing so makes us stand out from the crowd.