Think about all the times we could really use a cool drink, a kind word, or even a loving embrace. In my life, it could never have been delivered more effectively than from my mother. For, when I was retching over the toilet from the stomach flu, no matter the time of night, she would appear with a cool, wet washcloth and wipe my face— easing my unsettled stomach and much more.
AND then, we grow up and life gets hard and mom is not around any more.
What I find is that the difficulties grow worse, life gets hard, and the answers to the inequities of lie become harder to find. For all of the joys set before us as believers it is the “dailies” as one man quipped, that punish us the most.
No one knew this better than the apostle Paul. Think about the list of difficulties he laid bare in 2nd Corinthians 11. But at those times, and especially during those crucial times, cool rivers of refreshment came rushing in to make his days easier, his perspective richer, and his hope stronger.
Onesiphorus was just one of that group, who showed up at the right moment. Paul says of him in 2nd Timothy 1–
“The Lord grant mercy to the house of Onesiphorus, for he often refreshed me, and was not afraid of my chains.” 2 Timothy 1:16
In our day and age, we might call him a stand up guy. Among other things, he searched throughout Rome to find Paul’s prison— and when he did, he visited him, and stayed with him.
Likewise, he apparently was “that guy” who labored hard in the church at Ephesus. Paul says, “ he served the church very well.” And I take Paul to mean that Timothy was aware of it as well.
For those who who have been privileged to know such servants and friends, we are richer for it— the works we have pursued, are stronger because of the people who have invested in us.
But let’s return to the central truth. “ He has often refreshed me.” The language seems to imply that Paul believed that Onesiphorus has offered nothing less than a splash of cool water, delivered on a day of stifling heat— and he was the better for it.
Who has done that for you? What were the circumstances? Do you remember how that quickened your step; maybe even allowed you to press on?
For me, the moments often come on Wednesday evenings when we gather to pray, or Friday mornings, when we gather for fellowship and even at odd times, when with family and friends, some saint applies a cool wash cloth to my life-beaten face. And then, there’s this— Just week’s ago,my son made a point to thank me for the intensity and regularity of my prayers for him. I was encouraged.
Make no no mistake about it, the refreshment is no permanent remedy for the perils and pain that face us, often as soon as we stare into that morning mirror. The final solution is imminent but not here yet— its author and outcome certain, yet only the timetable remains unpublished.
But Paul’s days, if not hours were few beyond these words, but for him and for us, the opportunity to refresh someone else, will likely only be seized upon by us after or because we know by experience, the help it provided us.
Until then, we Labor to learn the art of the cold compress—-for a world hurting from going it alone.
Press on toward the prize
MJC
Dr. Mark J. Congrove
Pastor, Bethel Baptist Church
Adjunct faculty: Cornerstone University/ Grace Christian University
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