Tuesday, March 31, 2026
Scripture Readings
- Primary Reading: 3 John 1, Jude 1
Devotional Thought
The letters of John and Jude are the last whispers of the apostolic age, short notes written to small churches by men who had walked with Jesus and were now watching false teachers slip in among the flock. Third John is a personal letter to a man named Gaius, commended for showing hospitality to traveling missionaries. John names names—Diotrephes, who loved preeminence and refused the brethren, and Demetrius, who had a good report of all men. Jude writes with urgency about “certain men crept in unawares,” describing them as clouds without water and trees whose fruit withereth. Both letters ask the same question of us that they asked of the first readers: whose voice are you listening to, and whose example are you following?
As March ends and April begins, we stand at a hinge in the year. Spring has arrived, but the warmth is uneven; some days still bite with cold. Gardens are being turned over, soil prepared, seeds planted. It is a good week to ask what we are allowing to grow in the soil of our lives. Diotrephes let pride take root, and it choked out charity. The men Jude warns about let greed and sensuality grow unchecked, and their influence spread like a stain through the church. Meanwhile Gaius, quietly faithful, kept opening his door to strangers for the sake of the Name. Two kinds of growth, side by side.
John’s counsel is refreshingly simple: “Beloved, follow not that which is evil, but that which is good.” He does not ask Gaius to write a treatise against Diotrephes or to organize a committee. He asks him to keep doing what he is already doing—to keep showing hospitality, to keep supporting those who go forth for the Name’s sake, to imitate good rather than evil. Jude adds his own instruction: “But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, keep yourselves in the love of God.” The remedy for false teaching is not merely argument but a life built up in prayer and love.
This is the ordinary work of the Christian in any season: to keep the door open, to keep the faith whole, to keep praying in the Spirit. We are not all called to confront Diotrephes, but we are all called to be Demetrius—to have a good report of all men, and of the truth itself. As the year turns toward Easter, let us examine whose example shapes us and whose hospitality we extend. The Lord is at work in the quiet faithfulness of small churches and ordinary believers, and He has promised that “the truth itself” will bear witness to those who walk in it.
Reflection
- Is there a “Diotrephes” in your life—someone whose example of pride or self-interest you have absorbed without noticing—and what would it look like this week to follow the example of Gaius instead?
- Jude tells us to build ourselves up in our most holy faith and pray in the Holy Ghost. What would that look like in your actual daily schedule, not in theory but in practice?
Prayer
Father, we thank You for the faithful witness of men like Gaius and Demetrius, and for the warnings You gave through John and Jude against the pride of Diotrephes and the deception of those who crept in unawares. Search our hearts this day. Show us where we have loved preeminence, where we have listened to false voices, and where we have failed to show hospitality to those who labor for Your Name. Build us up in our most holy faith. Teach us to pray in the Holy Ghost and to keep ourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. Amen.