By Andrew Williams – October 11, 2021
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.
III John 1:11 NKJV
Good morning fellow disciples.
John has spoken about both Gaius and Diotrephes in the preceding devotionals. We have recognized that Gaius’ actions were good and Diotrephes’ were evil. Beloved, what can we learn from this verse?
“Beloved, do not imitate what is evil, but what is good.” Even though Gaius was already behaving like a good disciple, John was still encouraging him to imitate what is good. With Diotrephes’ influence and power, it was possible that Gaius could have been led astray by Diotrephes’ evil behavior.
As believers who know the truth and how to live our lives obedient to God, we can be lead astray by persons in leadership who are not living fully surrendered to God. The truth is that the majority of us don’t really know how to live submitted to God, because we have not really been taught how to. Many of us don’t read the scriptures and spend time fellowshipping with God in prayer, and this causes us to be ignorant of how we should live as disciples. We therefore can be lead astray quite easily by an evil shepherd/pastor/leader in the church.
“He who does good is of God, but he who does evil has not seen God.” Goodness is a sign of godliness, so if we are consistently doing what is good then we are of God. The statement “he who does evil has not seen God” is a hard statement to say about a church member. ( Note that I used the term church member and not disciple because a true disciple of Christ would not be acting evilly). The inference here is that the evil-doer NEVER had fellowship with God. He was never converted. He had never believed and was thus never saved!
As you examine your behavior, are you imitating what is evil or what is good? Are you of God, or have you not seen God?
Prayer: Father God, I will not imitate what is evil. I will imitate what is good. Give me knowledge, wisdom, and understanding so that I can live according to Your word. Empower me by Your Holy Spirit to be an obedient disciple. Help others to see the good that I do and help them to choose You as their only God. Amen.