“May the Lord show mercy to the household of Onesiphorus, because he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chains.  On the contrary, when he was in Rome, he searched hard for me until he found me.  May the Lord grant that he will find mercy from the Lord on that day! You know very well in how many ways he helped me in Ephesus.”
                                       2 Timothy 1:16-18 NIV

I had a golden retriever named Coby…yes both my daughter and my dog were named after cars, a few of you girls might have picked up on that…a few.  My son would have been named after one too but Mustang just didn’t seem appropriate.

Anyways, back to the dog.  Coby was the best family pet ever.  My kids would ride on her, lay on her or dance with her front paws on their shoulders.  The only negatives with Coby were her shedding hair and her overspray.  At one point there was a mucky pond in the field behind our house.  Coby loved the water so much that she would sneak out and jump in the pond.  Inevitably, when you went to get her out she immediately shook and soaked you with her overspray.

In the verses above Paul is praying a blessing over a guy named Onesiphorus because he was a source of refreshing to him, but not in the doggie shake-off kinda way.  Paul is near the end of his life at this point, he’s thanking and commending Onesiphorus for being there for him in his time of need.   Scripture tells us that when Paul was first charged and put in prison, everyone deserted him.1

It’s sad when that happens in the church.  It really shouldn’t happen.

Paul shares here how Onesiphorus didn’t forget about Paul when he was in prison but went to great trouble to find out where he was and dropped everything to help him.  Onesiphorus didn’t care what others thought, or what it cost him to travel; he cared about his friend.  Paul makes it clear that Onesiphorus had been this way for a long time, refreshing and helping others back in Ephesus.

Today I want you to think about overspray in two ways.

First, is there someone in your life whose overspray has brought you help and times of refreshing?  If so, take the time today to thank them and pray a blessing over their life and the life of their family members as Paul did.

Secondly, I want you to think about the overspray of your life.  Choose today to be a shower of refreshing to those around you!

Prayer

Father…I thank-You for the people in my life that have helped me and have been a source of refreshment to my spirit.  I recognize that it’s because of Your love for me.  I thank You for putting them in my life.  Help me to look for ways that the oversrpray of my life can help others make it through hard times so no one feels deserted.  Let streams of living water flow out of me to others.  In Jesus Name…Amen

1           2 Timothy 4:16

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Sherry Stahl