The succinct book of Philemon is an analogy of how Jesus put your freedom on His tab.
You are Onesimus.
Onesimus was a man enslaved to someone named Philemon. The apostle Paul met Onesimus while he was imprisoned for preaching the Gospel. Whenever Paul was imprisoned, he utilized his situation as an opportunity to preach the Gospel. Because of Paul, the Word of God received entry to otherwise unreachable places.
And so Paul spoke with his fellow prisoners, and even succeeded in converting some of them. Onesimus was one such man. Steadily, Paul and Onesimus built a friendship. It became clear to Paul that despite his imperfection, Onesimus had greater purpose than enslavement. But Onesimus could not afford his own freedom.
Paul wrote a letter to Philemon, on Onesimus' behalf; in it, he acknowledged that Onesimus owed Philemon but could not pay his debt. As a solution to that, Paul absorbed Onesimus' debt. He told Philemon to put the debt on his tab. And just like that, Onesimus was absolved. You see, Paul was in a position where he could afford the debt and he had clout with the man to whom the debt was owed. To Paul, the new debt was worth paying because Onesimus was worthy of freedom.
The reason why you are Onesimus is because your imperfection has caused a debt. A debt you owe but cannot pay: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, Romans 3:23. But Jesus is in a position where he can afford to absorb your debt; and Jesus has clout with God. Jesus believes that you are worthy of freedom. The succinct book of Philemon is an analogy of how Jesus put your freedom on His tab.
Out of love, Jesus pleads to the Father on your behalf. Without intercession from the heart of Jesus, who else is worthy to vouch for you to the Father? Except for Paul, Onesimus had no one who could orchestrate his freedom or vouch for his worthiness of freedom. Like him, there is no one to do that for us except for The One. The One: Jesus, who came and modeled God's will perfectly on the Earth.
Paul had a deep friendship with Philemon. He put in the work. Philemon knew Paul to be an honorable and hardworking man. Therefore, Paul's opinion had weight and influence with Philemon. Jesus' opinion of you has weight and influence with God. Jesus has elected to be your representative, he has vouched for your soul and character. Why? Because he loves you, and trusts you to do good, to be righteous, with the freedom you are given. The same reason Paul vouched for Onesimus.
God has placed enormous value on what Jesus loves. And what Jesus loves, He trains. Paul had firmly rooted his life in scripture, and allowed it to train his soul. The word of God completely transformed him (from persecutor of Christians to a proponent of them). He passed that re-prioritization on to Onesimus. Similarly, our relationship with Jesus is an enriched teacher-student dynamic, instruction on how to align our lives in accordance with what is righteous.
Jesus loves us enough to rub the dirt off. He polishes us off before the Father, proving that underneath the dirt is a soul worthy of eternal life. Without Jesus' love for our imperfect souls, freedom would have flown indifferently right over us.
Your relationship with God transforms you from slave of the world to sibling of Jesus. Repentance does not provide the coin you need to purchase forgiveness, repentance makes you eligible for God's charitable magnanimity.
Essentially, scripture speaks one thing to us: If you want to be a part of the Kingdom, you'll need to know how it operates in order to function within its realm. After all, life cannot survive in an environment it was not designed for. In Matthew 12:49, Jesus declared that His family members were the students of God's word. He wanted us to understand that to be adopted into the Kingdom, a person had to submit to being designed for it.
The system of the world is entirely different from the system of heaven. And for that reason, we have to retrain our brain if we ever hope to make the transition. In the world, we are slaves. We are slaves to fear; to vanity; to desire; to emotion; to the laws of science. Jesus teaches us how to break those chains:
He teaches us how to dismantle fear and therefore render it powerless. He teaches us the wealth of selflessness over the poverty of selfishness. He teaches us that temptation in the world is the most persuasive slaver, and that to escape it, we have to put a willing spirit into authority over our weak flesh. He teaches us how to choose the advantageous emotions over the harmful ones.
The re-prioritization of a lifestyle is a form of lifelong, thorough, spiritual coursework. We work on the earth to prepare ourselves for the life after this one by making this life better for others. You become eligible for a place in the family of God's kingdom by learning to operate within it and thus fit in it.
Though you might feel useless to the world, you are useful to the Kingdom of God. You will be compressed by the world until you learn to occupy the space the Spirit has given you to expand.
Onesimus, and Paul for that matter, would have been forever pressed down to slaves and corrupt mentalities had they not learned to expand in spirit. Jesus has given each of us a wide breadth and deep basin in which to make an impact while we are on earth. Utilize that space of potential spiritual energy. Grow into it.
The systems and products of the world are useless. If you serve it, so are you. But you don't have to be, you have not been irrevocably sentenced to that slavery. You are not a slave to sin within or around you once the power of Jesus had declared you free. Jesus has extended an invitation into a space of freedom, you need only to step into it. He has provided the directions.
Picture the restrictive posture of a slave. They can only make certain movements. The humble and poor and overlooked and damaged and failed people of the world seem also to have only restrictive movements. But Jesus says: we can do big things with what makes you small in the world. So windmill your arms, do a cartwheel. Figuratively, speaking. Because you are not in chains.
Onesimus was confined by prison walls. But after Paul vouched for him, the whole earth was open to him. Maybe you are confined by something: a relationship, an insecurity, a fear, a doubt, weakness, an addiction, a depression, or loss. Allow Jesus to break those chains in a moment-to-moment relationship with you throughout your life. You are not confined so long as you are free in Him.
In the introduction of the book of Philemon, the author: Paul, introduces himself as a "prisoner of Jesus Christ." The complete irony is that Jesus purchases our contract from our former slaver. But as Jesus' prisoner, we experience freedom. His claim on our lives prevents anyone or anything else from ever owning us.
Onesimus went on to travel and preach with Paul; he became the valued member of the kingdom Paul always knew he would. What Jesus sees in you is real and will be realized as soon as you step into freedom.