DO THAT WHICH IS GOOD AND AVOID THAT WHICH IS EVIL

Proclamation:

“Dear friend, do not imitate what is evil but what is good.  Anyone who does what is good is from God.  Anyone who does what is evil has not seen God.”  3 John 1:11 (NIV)

Explanation:

These words were written by the apostle John, under the influence of The Holy Spirit of God, to his friend and fellow believer, Gaius.  This single chapter letter focuses on John’s pastoral joy in the Christian walk of one of his spiritual children. (3 John 1:3-4)  He has heard about what Gaius was doing for the brothers and sisters, and even for strangers, and he encouraged him to continue to show them Christian hospitality. (3 John 1:5-8)  Then he urged him to do that which is good and not to imitate the evil which was being done by some in the church. (3 John 1:9-10)

Application:

Unfortunately, not every member of a congregation is a child of God.  There are some who are only interested in promoting themselves.  They cause or stir up confusion, spread malicious rumors, and mistreat the believers and visitors. (3 John 1:9-10)  Those who intentionally do evil within the church, and outside of it, are not from God but are under the influence of another spirit. (1 John 3:10 and 3 John 1:11)  We should be careful not to imitate all that we see in church.  We should also examine ourselves to make sure that we are doing whatever we do to serve God and not seeking self glory.  Do only that which is good, Christ-like, and that which gives God glory.