PODCAST
Faithful Living
January 14th, 2023
3 John 1:1-8
To Tell the Truth is a popular game show in which a panel of judges has to determine whether or not the contestants are telling the truth or telling a lie. Truth seems to have become a moving target, easily re-definable in society today.
In 3 John, the Elder writes to his friend, Gaius, expressing the joy he experienced upon learning of his faithfulness to live in the truth and to walk according to it. So, what is this truth? For the Elder, the truth was a life of loving like Jesus loved and living as though one believed the new reality brought about by the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, as well as the infilling of the Holy Spirit.
Living faithfully would have been understood to be a life lived as a reflection of the life Jesus Christ lived while walking this earth. To live faithfully is to offer a cup of cold water, a meal, a place to lay one’s head. All of this is done in the hope that the recipient would experience the love and the real unchanging truth of Jesus Christ.
Author: Devin Mulder