On The Run – When Running Leads to Redemption

There’s something powerful about the story of Onesimus—something that still speaks to my heart today.

When I wrote The Flip Side, I wanted to give a voice to the people we don’t hear much about in the Bible. The ones who appear in the shadows, behind the more well-known names. I wanted to imagine what they might have thought, felt, or feared in the middle of their stories. Chapter one, On The Run, begins with Onesimus—the runaway slave—and I couldn’t help but see pieces of myself in his journey.

He was running. I’ve done that too.

When we meet Onesimus in Scripture, it’s easy to label him as a thief or a coward. He stole from his master, Philemon, and fled. But isn’t that how life works sometimes? People see what we did without understanding why we did it. They see the act, but not the fear. They judge the running, but not the desperation behind it.

As I sat with his story, I wondered what it must have felt like to be someone else’s property. To have no identity of your own. To feel like your life is not your own to live. Then to risk everything just to chase freedom. That struck me deeply.

Have you ever run from something, thinking it was your only way out? I have.

I’ve run from situations where I felt misunderstood. I’ve run from pain—emotional, spiritual, even physical. I’ve run from responsibilities that felt too heavy, and dreams that felt too big. And just like Onesimus, I’ve run into loneliness, uncertainty, and fear. But the most important part of Onesimus’s story isn’t just that he ran. It’s where the running led him.

It led him to Paul.

And it led him to Jesus.

That’s the part that brings me to tears. God has such a beautiful way of using our detours. Onesimus thought he was just escaping a situation, but God was writing a bigger story. What Onesimus saw as a desperate act of survival, God used as a path to salvation. That gives me so much hope—because it means that even in our lowest, messiest, most confusing moments, God is still at work.

Writing that chapter helped me confront the areas in my life where I still try to run—places where fear drives my choices more than faith. I had to ask myself some hard questions, and I included those questions in the devotional for others to consider, too:

• Have I ever run away from something or someone when I really needed to run toward Jesus?

• Do I recognize the times when God was protecting me—even before I fully surrendered to Him?

• What does reconciliation look like when God calls me to face what I ran from?

As hard as those questions are, they’re necessary. Because the truth is, running may get us away from something—but only Jesus can bring us back to wholeness.

Paul saw something in Onesimus that Onesimus likely couldn’t see in himself: value, potential, and purpose. He even sent him back to Philemon with a letter that essentially said, “He’s not just your servant anymore—he’s your brother.” What a transformation!

When God grabs hold of your life, He doesn’t just change your direction—He changes your identity.

If you’ve ever felt like you were on the run—from your past, from people, even from yourself—I want to remind you that there’s no place too far, no decision too poor, no mistake too big that God can’t redeem. Your story isn’t over, and you’re not defined by your detour.

Like Onesimus, God is calling you not just to return—but to be restored.

You are beneficial. You are profitable. You are His.

And that, my friend, is the flip side of the story.

With grace,Lisa Keeton