3 John
Have you ever seen a chef honing his knife on a steel? Sometimes they make quite a show of it. I always used to think they were sharpening
that knife. They’re not. The knife is already sharp. However, because its edge is so perilously
thin, that cutting area can get bent and out of line. Knife sharpeners call this being out of,
“true.” There is a straight, true line
that when that edge follows it allows the cutter to have the sharpest possible
blade.
When we sin, we come out of true. We need to be brought back in line with God’s
will for us. Although Jesus’ cross was
made of wood, it serves as the steel that puts us back in true so that we can
be in line with God.
To walk in the truth means that first we live in Jesus’ life
transforming forgiveness. We are brought
back in line with our Father. Now,
because we have been realigned with God in Jesus, we seek to live our lives in
alignment with his will. For Gaius that
meant welcoming missionaries and preachers of the Gospel, despite being opposed
by Diotrephes, because he knew the message they were proclaiming was the
message that had brought him into God’s love and forgiveness and he wanted
others to hear of God’s love in giving His only Son for us.
For us today walking in the truth of Jesus’ forgiveness
means living with integrity, loving others, showing hospitality to our brothers
and sisters in Christ. It means clinging
to the truth, even when the world reminds us we are out of line with them,
because in the truth we are in line with Jesus.
It means having a good testimony of what Jesus has done for us as we
share Him with others. Living in the
truth is living in Jesus.
Lord Jesus, make me
true and let me live each day in You.
Amen.
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