Monday, March 31, 2025
Scripture Readings
- Primary Reading: 3 John 1, Jude 1
Devotional Thought
The two letters appointed for today are the shortest in the New Testament, and both are concerned with the same quiet crisis: how God’s people treat one another when no one is watching. In 3 John, the elder writes to a beloved friend named Gaius, commending him for receiving traveling missionaries and supplying them “after a godly sort” so that they “went forth for his name’s sake, taking nothing of the Gentiles.” Against Gaius stands Diotrephes, a man who “loveth to have the preeminence,” who prates against the apostles with malicious words, refuses the brethren, and casts faithful members out of the church. Between them is Demetrius, whose good report comes not only from men but from the truth itself. The letter is a portrait gallery: hospitality, pride, and a good name.
Jude, the brother of James, writes with more urgency. False teachers have “crept in unawares,” turning grace into license and denying the Lord. Jude reaches back for warning pictures—Israel in the wilderness, the angels that fell, Sodom and Gomorrah, Cain, Balaam, Korah—and forward to Enoch’s prophecy of judgment. Yet the letter’s most tender words come at the end: “Keep yourselves in the love of God… Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy.”
Here is the ordinary shape of church life, then and now. Some quietly open their homes and their purses; some quietly gather power. Late March, with its lengthening light and its lingering chill, is a fitting season for such a word. The kingdom advances largely through unnoticed kindness—a meal, a gift, a letter, a place to stay.
Notice that both letters end in doxology. Jude bursts into praise; John closes with “Peace be to thee.” The church’s conflicts are real, but they are not the last word. The last word belongs to the God who keeps us from falling.
Reflection
- In your church and home, are you more like Gaius, who supports the workers, or Diotrephes, who must have the preeminence and shuts the door?
- Jude commands us to “earnestly contend for the faith” yet also to have “compassion, making a difference.” Where does your defense of truth need more mercy, or your mercy more truth?
Prayer
Our Father, we thank Thee for the faithful witness of Gaius and Demetrius, and for the warning of Diotrephes. Search our hearts for any love of preeminence, and root it out. Make us hospitable and generous to those who go forth for Thy name’s sake. Keep us in Thy love, building ourselves up in our most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. Have compassion on those who doubt, and pull some out of the fire. And unto Thee, our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.