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In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
The elder,
To my dear friend Gaius, whom I love in the truth.
Dear friend, I pray that you may enjoy good health and that all may go well with you, even as your soul is getting along well. It gave me great joy when some believers came and testified about your faithfulness to the truth, telling how you continue to walk in it. I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.
3 John 1:1-4
This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
After our study of the second letter written by John, we come to an equally brief letter in his third. Both are more personalized, the second written to a chosen woman of God and her children who were fellow Christian believers while as we see in the opening verses of the third letter, John is writing to a good friend and leader of an unknown church. Through his words, we find John expressing his joy found in the faith of his companion in Gospel work.
The elder,
To my dear friend Gaius, whom I love in the truth.
Dear friend, I pray that you may enjoy good health and that all may go well with you, even as your soul is getting along well. It gave me great joy when some believers came and testified about your faithfulness to the truth, telling how you continue to walk in it. I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth. 3 John 1:1-4
As in the second letter, John identifies himself as “the elder”, a reference to his seniority and authority within the churches he helped establish. But note that he doesn’t come off to Gaius as if he is supremely superior. Rather, he takes time to praise his “dear friend” for how he was faithful “to the truth” and helping others in the church do likewise. In fact, John goes as far to say that he had “no greater joy” than “to hear” that his brothers and sister Christians, those he had helped become disciples were “walking in the truth”. He had learned of this from “some believers” who had come and “testified about” their faithfulness to this truth. Ultimately, it was their connection to Jesus, who had proclaimed Himself as the Truth (capital T) that put them in the place that brought happiness to John, their elder.
I don’t know about you but I can relate to John so very much because I have association with so many fellow Christian believers and never tire of hearing about how they are walking in faithfulness and obedience to the Word of God. This truth about the Truth (Jesus) leads any Jesus follower to the place where they reap a harvest of fruits of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23), fruits which further produce good works born out of the very will of our Lord. It’s the testimonies of those fruitful accomplishments in the name of our God that bring me to a place of rejoicing over the faith of others.
In response to today’s message, I encourage you to leave a comment and share how walking in the truth through your partnership with Jesus, the Truth, has produced amazing, inspiring results. Your testimony can help all your brothers and sisters in Christ be filled with the same joy John felt more than 2,000 years ago.
Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.
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