2 John (HCSB)
Greeting
1 The Elder:
To the elect lady and her children: I love all of you in the truth—and not only I, but also all who have come to know the truth— 2 because of the truth that remains in us and will be with us forever.
3 Grace, mercy, and peace will be with us from God the Father and from Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love.
Truth and Deception
4 I was very glad to find some of your children walking in the truth, in keeping with a command we have received from the Father. 5 So now I urge you, dear lady—not as if I were writing you a new command, but one we have had from the beginning—that we love one another. 6 And this is love: that we walk according to His commands. This is the command as you have heard it from the beginning: you must walk in love.
7 Many deceivers have gone out into the world; they do not confess the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh. This is the deceiver and the antichrist. 8 Watch yourselves so you don’t lose what we have worked for, but that you may receive a full reward. 9 Anyone who does not remain in Christ’s teaching but goes beyond it, does not have God. The one who remains in that teaching, this one has both the Father and the Son. 10 If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your home, and don’t say, “Welcome,” to him; 11 for the one who says, “Welcome,” to him shares in his evil works.
Farewell
12 Though I have many things to write to you, I don’t want to do so with paper and ink. Instead, I hope to be with you and talk face to face so that our joy may be complete.
13 The children of your elect sister send you greetings.
3 John (HCSB)
Greeting
1 The Elder:
To my dear friend Gaius: I love you in the truth.
2 Dear friend, I pray that you may prosper in every way and be in good health physically just as you are spiritually. 3 For I was very glad when some brothers came and testified to your faithfulness to the truth—how you are walking in the truth. 4 I have no greater joy than this: to hear that my children are walking in the truth.
Gaius Commended
5 Dear friend, you are showing faithfulness by whatever you do for the brothers, especially when they are strangers. 6 They have testified to your love in front of the church. You will do well to send them on their journey in a manner worthy of God, 7 since they set out for the sake of the Name, accepting nothing from pagans. 8 Therefore, we ought to support such men so that we can be coworkers with the truth.
Diotrephes and Demetrius
9 I wrote something to the church, but Diotrephes, who loves to have first place among them, does not receive us. 10 This is why, if I come, I will remind him of the works he is doing, slandering us with malicious words. And he is not satisfied with that! He not only refuses to welcome the brothers himself, but he even stops those who want to do so and expels them from the church.
11 Dear friend, do not imitate what is evil, but what is good. The one who does good is of God; the one who does evil has not seen God. 12 Demetrius has a good testimony from everyone, and from the truth itself. And we also testify for him, and you know that our testimony is true.
Farewell
13 I have many things to write you, but I don’t want to write to you with pen and ink. 14 I hope to see you soon, and we will talk face to face.
Peace be with you. The friends send you greetings. Greet the friends by name.
PERSONAL JOURNAL:
SIN (verses 2:5-6): Father, please forgive me for not always following Your command to love one another. Forgive me for not always walking in love as You command. Help me to embrace Your love so much that it overflows in all that I am and all that I do.
PROMISE (verse 3:11): You promise us that those who do Your good works are of God and that He remains in us, but at the same time that we must be cautious of the deceivers who try to pull us away from Your good word and Your will for us.
ATTITUDE (verses 2:4-6): Lord, help me to change my attitude towards love; both the love towards You and to others. Help me to truly know and embrace Your love, Father, so that loving others comes easy and naturally to me at all times. Cleanse me of the sins that are preventing me from truly embracing and glorifying this attitude and action of Godly love.
COMMAND (verses 2:5-6 & 2:10): Father, You remind us so often through the New Testament of the two most important commands--Loving You fully with everything we are and loving others as ourselves. You remind us of these commands and reaffirm their importance in today's scripture. Additionally, You command us to also be protective of our homes and who we bring into our homes. Our flesh is weak and if we do not protect our homes, then we can easily lose our way with You and share in the "evil works" of others.
EXAMPLE (verses 3:1-4): God, help me to follow the example You give us of Gaius and how he has abundant faithfulness to the truth. Help me to truly embrace and internalize Your truth, Father, so that I too may walk in righteousness to be an example to all and to glorify You, so that my testimony from others will reflect You in all things but also so that I may become a true disciple of Christ and a fisher of me to expand, grow, and glorify Your kingdom.
*DAILY NOTE: Once again, Father, You are talking to me about love...practically yelling at me at this point as I struggle quite a bit with the act and emotion of love. My childhood wasn't very strong in love at all from my family, so this has been a deeply engrained issue of mine for a VERY long time. Continue to work in me, Father, to show me Your love so I may truly understand and embrace it. Embed in me so much of Your love that it automatically and easily overflows out of me to others, Father!
*GENERAL NOTE: I always "sandwich" my quiet time with God in prayer and do it in a location that I will not have any distractions so that I can be focused on my quiet time with God. Do not worry about how short or long your journal entries are for that day's quiet time. Just focus on the actual quiet time and relational conversation with God through the Holy Spirit and His Word. The journaling is an enhancement to your quiet time conversation with God, but also to allow you to reflect on things later as you can look back on your journal entries later when you do the chapters again in the future to see how you have grown. See the FAQ for more detail on how I do my quiet time.
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