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Thoughts of a saint and slave
by Sam Isaacson
We begin our journey through John's third letter with a look at his initial greeting:
'The elder to the beloved Gaius, whom I love in truth. Beloved, I pray that all may go well with you and that you may be in good health, as it goes well with your soul. For I rejoiced greatly when the brothers came and testified to your truth, as indeed you are walking in the truth. I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.' (3 John 1:1-4)
...that all may go well...
The opening sentences here are fascinating. We so often pray over one another, 'Dear Lord, please bless Paul. Keep him well, bless him financially, bless his marriage...' but that's not where John goes. John says that he prays 'that all may go well...and that you may be in good health'. That and is important because it shows that John's prayer for all to go well does not include good health, but that good health is in addition to all going well. What this means is that our mindset has been exposed. Our eyes are so often distracted by the temporary. It's my Birthday this week, and my mind is naturally leaning towards 'what gifts will I receive?' Our eyes are distracted by this physical, temporary world. But John's definition of 'all going well' doesn't even include good health! He's far more concerned with our spiritual health - his eyes are fixed on eternity, and we should allow that to challenge us greatly.
That's not to say that we shouldn't ever be concerned with the temporary. If we took this one verse out of context we might conclude that good health isn't important, but that's wrong too because John prays specifically for it! So our conclusions must be that it is important for us to pray for, and to strive for, the best in this temporary world, but that we should not base our opinion of how well things are going on our temporary existence. You may be unemployed, or housebound, or hospital bed-bound, or going through a tough divorce, or grieving over the loss of a child. These things are all bad experiences, and not to be minimised, but John's point in this opening passage is to ask us: 'what is your definition of 'all going well'?'
...no greater joy...
To add to this idea John returns to one of his favourite repeated words: joy. John is made joyful when he sees that 'all is going well', and he seems to have discovered the secret to eternal joy - do you have it too? I read John's letters and I am given a mental image of a happy, smiling man. John was a guy who loved to laugh. He loved to hang out with his friends and have a good time, and I think he would have been a hard guy to spot with a grumpy face. And he reveals his secret here - he has no greater joy than when he hears that his children are walking in the truth. Now, we've already looked at 'walking in the truth' a couple of weeks ago (it just means being a Christian), and by children he's not talking about his physical children, he's referring to those he has spiritually fathered...so the secret to this undying joy is to be made genuinely happy when we see the effect of the gospel in others' lives.
When was the last time you cheered, and laughed in joy, perhaps cried tears of joy, when you saw someone's life restored in Christ? We must cultivate a joyful attitude by praying for our friends and family - pray for our Christian friends and family by thanking God for his mercy in their lives, and asking for an ever-deepening relationship. Pray for our unbelieving friends and family, that they would come into a knowledge of the wonderful and infinite love of God. Then let's rejoice in that mercy, as we see evidences of grace in the lives of those closest to us.
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