There is a verse of scripture that touched my heart a couple of weeks ago with the Lord desiring for me to put pen to paper. But then the wrestling match began. Work increased, other responsibilities took more of my time, and admittedly some other things became more pressing. Nonetheless, His word in 3 John kept pinging my heart. The other question and part of the wrestling wasn’t just the distractions, but what did the Lord want to say beyond just the surface expression of the verse (while keeping it in context of the surrounding verses).
To serve as an introduction to a song Keith Green sang decades ago, he asked for God to make his heart baby-skinned soft because his heart grew wrinkled and calloused (a man who was saved for maybe 5-8 years by this time). He said, “it isn’t the things that I am doing, but it is the things that I am not doing”.
It is relatively easy for a Christian, especially one who made choices and took stands, to look upon a sinful world who make poor choices when the answer they truly need is easily available…all they have to do is ask. It is relatively easy to redirect a wayward or fallen Christian, particularly if condemnation has set in, to come back to the graces of God. But what about Christians who have been saved a while (decades more so)? As of this writing I have been a Christian for well over 27 years. And I will be the first to admit that not every day I made the best choices, but salvation, repentance, and a dogged understanding of who Christ is has not persuaded me to anyone or anything else (think of the song Christ Is Enough). I, like Peter who declared in John 6:68-69, Lord, to whom shall we go? For You alone have the words of eternal life. And we have come to believe and know that You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God. But I have been saved long enough to see the Lord continuing to work in people, praise God. I have seen Christians who keep contending and keep climbing and keep surrendering, praise God for that too. But I have also seen Christians that as they have grown “older in Christ”, their heart and patience toward God and others has diminished. A waiting for the Lord isn’t sufficient any more. A heart of flesh--pliable, yielding, willing to go/do--slowly gets harder and harder (like a stone) (see what God desires in Ezekiel 36:26). Even with the waiting, instead of doing as much and being open and humble and repentant, now we choose our ease. With the passage of time we choose what is less effort, less involvement, a “let someone else”, a “let the new Christian” do it, let the younger person do it while our attitudes creep in and we back off. And the while our attitudes and coldness get harder. And perhaps because we feel the sting of regret or consequences of a life of choices that have led us down a path we were never intended to be on and not one we would have liked to have arrived unlike when we were early saved and everything was new and fresh, we overcompensate by judging and condemning the actions and choices of others.
So enter John the Beloved’s words. But before I share the verse, I would like to call to memory a phrase said many years ago, “You cannot explain passion to passionless people” (Similarly you cannot explain compassion to compassionless people.). 3 John 1:11 says, “Beloved, do not imitate what is evil, but what is good. He who does good is of God, but he who does evil has not seen God.” Seems very black and white and when we look at it from that singular verse’s lens, we can choose to make very hard and cold stands. Yes, we should live for Jesus. Yes, we need to love, serve, forgive, etc. All of these are important. We need to consider others before ourselves. Again, commendable. But what if that verse were not in of itself sufficient? Meaning that we need to look into the context and the context is said in the previous verses (verses 9-10), “I wrote to the church, but Diotrephes, who loves to have the preeminence among them, does not receive us. Therefore, if I come, I will call to mind his deeds which he does, prating against us with malicious words. And not content with that, he himself does not receive the brethren, and forbids those who wish to, putting them out of the church.” Let us break these verses down. Diotrephes was a pastor of a church. He was probably a convert under the vein of John the Beloved. He attended the conferences, men’s meetings, was on outreach, etc. But as time went on and through his choices, Diotrephes made hard stands…and these hard stands now are in opposition to John. Pastor Diotrephes doesn’t believe that John is as saved as he is. Pastor D likes being called Pastor. Pastor D likes when chairs are arranged that he sits in a place of comfort while others not as comfortable. Pastor D likes when a fellowship happens that food is prepared and brought to him and is annoyed when his male friends are not joining him in eating while others have to wait or do without. Pastor D likes to thump his chest to share what he (I mean what the Lord) has done. And he pridefully enjoys the power to kick people out of the church (or make them uncomfortable enough to leave on their own) who do not measure up to his speed of conversion and maturity. Without realizing it, a heart of good ebbs to a heart of evil.
All of these things I just said seem to be specific but these items simply are examples of a number of people and can be applied and tweaked to apply, but the point is and the whole focus is one thing: the heart. Despite us quickly wanting to utter the words of Jeremiah about the heart being deceitful and etc., but truthfully and soberly, who has our heart? And in what condition is our heart?
Last night I had a conversation with my son concerning Solomon and the book of Ecclesiastes. And despite nuggets of wisdom spoken, I will be honest (and he shares my feelings, too) it is a little difficult for me to accept his words in Ecclesiastes given what happened. I'm not saying hypocrite necessarily, but certainly we have the right to challenge his words as moral mountains to stand on. Many a Christian focuses on two matters concerning David: slaying Goliath and Bathsheba (and all that was involved concerning her). But despite what was a good start to a rough middle of life, he finished with integrity and well. He didn’t sexually sin in his final time on earth. He did his best to have a repentant heart. He did his best to honor God. Even when he wasn’t allowed to build the temple, he still put his heart into sacrificing even personally to make that temple be not just a beautiful structure, but a physical testimony and a structure of gratitude for all that God does and did and will forever do. Yet Solomon laments, and didn’t finish well. The Bible says that the women turned his heart away from God. We never see him repent. We never see the kingdom of Israel blessed. What we do see is a man whining and regretting and who allowed the kingdom to divide and fall into sin. He is a man who lived in the past.
Life is full of choices. And yes decisions made now do affect future events, no denial of that. There is a principle of reaping and sowing. But let us not also get so busy with the now that we ignore the future perspective. In short, what is the end result? That others, through our pouring out our lives, come to know Jesus and live for Him and in and through that (and above all else) that Jesus is glorified. And in keeping that eternal or end-game vision in view, we realize that rules, coldness, indifference, etc. won’t keep us saved. That we should not live a walk that alienates and persuades others to not to come to Christ or to forsake Christ. Or if our life began to drift where hard lines of commitment and conviction have now been blurred or obscured by choices of ease and compromise, we cannot expect that this will be acceptable to God even though we continue to attend church, perhaps participate to a minimum, and we’re not committing the “big sins”. It is evil to not love, to not forgive, to not serve, to not give, to not…you get the point…just as equal as we ought not to have hatred, adultery, etc. in our hearts or is practiced in our lives. And it is also evil to be the stumbling block that pushes others to leave a relationship with Jesus to pursue religion or nothing at all elsewhere. Let us commit the words of Paul in Galatians 6:9-10, “And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith.”