God Speaks
From: John, the old Elder of the church.
To: That dear woman Cyria, one of God’s very own, and to her children whom I love so much, as does everyone else in the church. 2 Since the Truth is in our hearts forever, 3 God the Father and Jesus Christ his Son will bless us with great mercy and much peace, and with truth and love.
4 How happy I am to find some of your children here and to see that they are living as they should, following the Truth, obeying God’s command.
5 And now I want to urgently remind you, dear friends, of the old rule God gave us right from the beginning, that Christians should love one another. 6 If we love God, we will do whatever he tells us to. And he has told us from the very first to love each other.
7 Watch out for the false leaders—and there are many of them around—who don’t believe that Jesus Christ came to earth as a human being with a body like ours. Such people are against the truth and against Christ. 8 Beware of being like them and losing the prize that you and I have been working so hard to get. See to it that you win your full reward from the Lord. 9 For if you wander beyond the teaching of Christ, you will leave God behind; while if you are loyal to Christ’s teachings, you will have God too. Then you will have both the Father and the Son.
10 If anyone comes to teach you, and he doesn’t believe what Christ taught, don’t even invite him into your home. Don’t encourage him in any way. 11 If you do, you will be a partner with him in his wickedness.
12 Well, I would like to say much more, but I don’t want to say it in this letter, for I hope to come to see you soon, and then we can talk over these things together and have a joyous time.
13 Greetings from the children of your sister—another choice child of God.
Sincerely, John
Source: The Living Bible: BibleGateway.com
We Respond
Reflection: The point of this short letter by the Apostle John is to warn his readers about false teachers. These men did not believe that God the Son (the Messiah or Christ) came and lived on earth as a human being called Jesus of Nazareth. John advised the Christians not to associate with these men or encourage them. Their teaching was disturbing the faith of many in the truth; however, he did commend the believers to continue living in mercy, grace, and peace out of the truth and love for Jesus Christ, God the Father, and each other.
Prayer: Dear Father God, thank You that God the Son did come to earth as a man, Jesus of Nazareth. Thank You that because of His life, death, and resurrection, I can live my human life in mercy, grace, peace, truth, and love for You and other people. Thank You for sending the Holy Spirit to enable me to do so. Keep me alert to such false teachers in my day. When Jesus returns, may He find other believers and me living according to the truth and loving one another, just as the Father commanded. AMEN
Action: (Ask God, the Holy Spirit, which one of these He wants you to work on or something else more personal that He points out.)
- I will affirm to someone specific that I truly believe that Jesus is the Christ, 100% God and 100% man.
- I will speak up when I hear someone claiming that Jesus was just a good man or that Christianity is just a set of high ideals to be interpreted however a person chooses.
- I will thank God for the mercy, grace, and peace God has given me in the past week.
- I will seek specific ways to live in truth and love, then do them.
Share: I plan to share what I’ve learned with __________.