Refreshers.

"Refreshers are rare finds in this narcissistic world."  ~ Beth Moore, Entrusted

Onesiphorus, Paul writes, was a refresher.  He would seek for Paul, earnestly scour cities and countryside looking for his friend, possibly finding him in a jail cell, entangled in chains, and yet he kept loving, kept accepting, kept giving, kept refreshing, his friend.  He didn't judge the stench of the body worn by weeks in a dungeon, or shake his head at the latest of Paul's rants for the gospel, or give up after days asking person after person along the streets of Rome to no avail.  No, he refreshed!

He could have complained about the journey.  He could have shown his dirty, bloody feet and sweaty robe.  He could have tossed critical remarks about the others he bumped into.   Or mention the annoying, unhelpful passer-byres he asked.  He could have talked about his tiredness, his lack of good sleep, or his bodily ailments.  He could have found a million ho-hum one-liners and paragraphs about the frustration of his life, or effort finding Paul, or the negativity infiltrating the church the culture...  But no, he refreshed!

He walked in to unabashedly hug his friend.  Both men thick with grime and hair and filth, they embraced like war-torn brothers, possibly crying in relief or laughing at the site of each other.  Then he ministered to the heart of Paul, not ashamed of any part of him.  

I imagine him laughing at stories of escape, or sharing tales of children.  I imagine him spreading the Good News of the gospel, and saying it with such joy and elation, that it would really feel like Good News!  I imagine him speaking in the Spirit, enlightened by holy refreshing, to move life and vigor into Pauls'.

Oh, how good it is to be in the fellowship of a refresher!  Oh how life-giving it is to walk into their home or feel their embrace!  Oh how true the Good News feels when they share it from their life and lips.

Dear Jesus, give your kingdom a new host of refreshers, and refresh the hearts of your saints.

~Context from II Timonthy 1:16-18

"Your love has given me great joy and encouragement, 

because you brother, have refreshed the hearts of saints."  

Philemon 1:7  (NIV84)

Side Reading: The Ministry of Refreshment  (Found this little sermon as I was looking up the scripture verse)