3 John 11 Beloved, do not imitate what is evil but imitate what is good. Whoever does good is from God; whoever does evil has not seen God.
First of all, a little Bible trivia: Notice there aren't two numbers after John separated by a colon. Usually the first number is chapter number and second is verse number. In this case it's 3 John 11. There's only 1 chapter in 3 John. It's a short book: a memo really. You could read the whole book in probably as much time as it's taking you to read this email message. Give it a shot.
In this short little letter, John is attempting to provide some direction and correction to groups of ancient Christians. Because in olden times things were not always better. Things were not always more holy. Things were not always more clear. There were controversies and arguments and disagreements. People did the wrong thing sometimes. And they needed a reminder.
That's what this is for us: we all know of course not to imitate the evil. And if things and choices came labeled as good and evil the vast majority of us would choose correctly. The challenge is that things don't come labeled that way. So we need to be reminded to think and discern carefully. When you're making choices, think about the evil and good. And, to the best of your ability, choose the good. Then, once you've chosen: trust God and God's grace and forgiveness. That's the Christian way of life. It's not neat and easy and clean all the time. Instead, it's real life.
In Christ,
Pastor Seth
Our website http://www.allsaintspalatine.org has information about all of our ministries. Worship together Sunday morning at 8:30 and 11 with Education Hour at 9:45. Men's Breakfast meets this Saturday morning at 8.
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