“Beloved, do not imitate what is evil, but what is good. The one who does good is of God; the one who does evil has not seen God. ” – 3 John 11 (NASB)
Of the 3 letters written by John the Apostle, the third is the shortest. John was urging the believers to continue to maintain the practice of Christian hospitality that they had been taught and were practicing. In their body was one who was arrogantly violating this practice. With promises from John that he would deal with this malcontent when he visited, he offered the instructions fount in our verse today. It is an essential that what we do is truly good and not just good according to worldly standard but good that comes from our position in God. It is a very strict teaching that many ignore a great deal in the Christian church today. Many teachings of Jesus and then the apostles are being redefined and rationalized based on what “seems right in one’s own eyes.” We tend to become careless and drift away from God’s Word. The drift comes from imitating ways of the world around. Those ways are controlled by Satan who is evil. True good exists and we can emulate what is good. Remember that those who do good are of God and those who do evil cannot claim to know God.
195
Esengo Mingi 