Yet to See God

3 John

The main theme of this letter to an individual is hospitality. I suspect that hospitality was, then, not just a matter of courtesy but a matter of provision. It was an issue of providing food and shelter to those who were undertaking the work of the Lord. It also became, then, sadly, a means of showing approval or not for persons in the ministry.

This leads to an urging to imitate what is good – no matter how people treat you, we might add. But the most intriguing comment here, for me, comes next. John observes that anyone who does good is from God, but then notes that anyone who does what is evil has not seen God (verse 11). What a healthy phrase to remember when, in our perception, we see people doing evil! They are not to be written off, or assumed to be of the devil or some such thing. They just haven’t had enough experience of God!

That puts the onus back on those of us who have seen him, and who have our experience of God reinforced in talking “face to face” (verse 14), and greeting one another “by name” (verse 14).

Next in Open Journal: The Book of Psalms

Prayer:
Thank you for your servant, John, for the life of his words now, and for your living Word seeking to have your Way in and through me. Make it my concern for you to be visible to even one person in a new way through my life, and my fellowship with others. In Christ. Amen.