Epaphroditus, Lover of God – The Greatest Commandment

Epaphroditus, Lover of God

Exodus, 20:17; Deuteronomy 5:21

“And you shall not covet…”

Philippians 2:29, 30

So receive him in the Lord with all joy, and honor such men, for he nearly died for the work of Christ, risking his life to complete what was lacking in your service to me.

We love God in little and great efforts.

Epaphroditus was a messenger. He had been sent by the Philippians to Paul in Rome in order to bring certain provisions and supplies to meet his needs. Along the way, apparently, he fell ill, and might have turned back to Philippi. Instead, he stayed the course and carried out his assignment, arriving in Rome nearly at the point of death. It was a small task – compared to Paul’s standing before the Emperor, for example – but in it Epaphroditus proved himself a true lover of God, a man to be honored for his faithfulness in little things. It’s easy to overlook such people in our churches. We tend to focus on the glitzy, grab-the-spotlight kind of ministries that seem to be so important to the work of the Gospel. Meanwhile, how many lovers of God go overlooked because their faithfulness in small things is not appreciated as it should be? Make a point in your own ministry to single out the Epaphrodituses in your church and give them the honor they are due.

Pray

Help me to grow in love for You, O Lord, in all the ways we have been considering this week. Draw me closer to You and let my soul burn with love for You, so that, whether in great things or small, I may be faithful to obey.

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“In the Gates” is a devotional series on the Law of God by Rev. T.M. Moore

T. M. Moore is editor of the Worldview Church. He serves as dean of the Centurions Program of the Wilberforce Forum and principal of The Fellowship of Ailbe, a spiritual fellowship in the Celtic Christian tradition. He is the author or editor of twenty books, and has contributed chapters to four others. His essays, reviews, articles, papers, and poetry have appeared in dozens of national and international journals, and on a wide range of websites. His most recent books are The Ailbe Psalter and The Ground for Christian Ethics (Waxed Tablet).

Scripture quotations in this article are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, (c) copyright 2001,2007 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Editor’s note: The use of a translation other than the Authorised Version in an article does not constitute an endorsement in whole or in part by The Christian Observer.