NOTHING BEATS FACE TO FACE

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

I have much to write to you, but I do not want to use paper and ink. Instead, I hope to visit you and talk with you face to face, so that our joy may be complete.

The children of your sister, who is chosen by God, send their greetings.

2 John 1:12-13

I have much to write you, but I do not want to do so with pen and ink. I hope to see you soon, and we will talk face to face.

Peace to you. The friends here send their greetings. Greet the friends there by name.

3 John 1:13-15

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

We’re in an electronic age and have been so for quite some time now. Whether cell phone calls, e-mail, messaging, or texting, we are interacting and communicating in more ways than ever before.

But here’s the thing.

Nothing, and I mean nothing, beats being with someone in person, face to face.

My mother lives in western Pennsylvania as do my two daughters and their families who live in close proximity to her. They are around an eight hour drive from where my wife and I live in Virginia Beach, Virginia, and so we don’t get a chance to see them and spend quality time as often as we would like.

And so we do the best we can to stay in touch, using what’s at our disposal until that time when we can be back in each other’s company again.

As we look at the closing verses of John’s second and third letter, the first written to an unknown sister Christian and her children who were also servants of the Lord and the second to a good friend and ministry partner named Gaius, we find John yearning for personal fellowship with his readers. Look again at his words here:

I have much to write to you, but I do not want to use paper and ink. Instead, I hope to visit you and talk with you face to face, so that our joy may be complete.

The children of your sister, who is chosen by God, send their greetings. 2 John 1:12-13

I have much to write you, but I do not want to do so with pen and ink. I hope to see you soon, and we will talk face to face.

Peace to you. The friends here send their greetings. Greet the friends there by name. 3 John 1:13-15

Note here that John has so much more that he wants to say to the Christian woman and her children as well as Gaius and the Christians in his church but he would rather not do it using “paper and ink”. Rather, he had hopes to “visit” them and “talk” with them “face to face”. Doing so, would make his joy complete as it would those who would travel with him. We don’t know for sure who that might be but John does mention in the second letter that they might be “the children” of her “sister”, fellow Christian believers who were sending “their greetings”.

As I read these heartfelt words from John at the end of both letters, I couldn’t help how my joy is complete when I get to travel home to see my family in that mostly small town area of Pennsylvania. Rather than type out a message on a keyboard or talk on the phone, it makes me so much happier to be able to give my loved ones a hug and see them in person to have a conversation.

Maybe you can relate.

One more thing before I close, a special thought that the Holy Spirit is placing on my heart. 

For I couldn’t help but think about how our Father God feels about His relationship with those who place their faith in His Son Jesus, accepting His offer of salvation and the associated gift of eternal life.

For although God has given us His holy Word, inerrant and complete from Genesis to Revelation, I can’t help but think that He is longing for that day when we won’t need to read the paper and ink anymore for we will be living with Him forever, face to face, in His Kingdom. In that day and for all eternity, there’s no question that both His joy and ours will be complete, and will always remain that way.

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.