A devotional thought presented originally to Swift Current Men’s Prayer Breakfast, Thursday 07 May 2015
Read 3 John 9-11
“A rose by another name is still a rose.”
William Shakespeare put these words in the mouth of Juliet in ‘Romeo and
Juliet’: “What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would
smell as sweet.” Juliet is talking about her love. Juliet says that you cannot
change the beautiful nature of something by simply renaming it. A rose is still
as beautiful even if you call it a turnip or a skunk.
These
days there are myriad ways that some, even in our churches, are trying to
convince us that a rose is something other than a rose. Over the past few years
we have heard people telling us that the Bible is not the inerrant Word of God
(TSA Doc 1). From this deception they proceed to tell us all kinds of things
that should be easily seen as untrue. They are selfish and tell us that we have
to look out for ourselves before serving God through others. They tell us that
even though the Bible says certain selfish behaviours can be changed, the Bible
doesn’t really mean what it says: they say that you can’t change your nature so
don’t even bother trying. They tell us that we are born certain ways and we’ll
never be able to change. This is sad. We know it’s not true.
We
have all seen people change. We have all heard testimonies of people whose
lives God has changed from the inside out. Many of us have had our own lives
changed as we turned them over to God but the Diotrephes of today say that a
rose is not a rose and so not only can we not change to be free of behaviours
which enslave us but also we must embrace and even build our identity around
them: ‘why call a sin, a sin?’ They ask. ‘You can’t be free of sin’, they say.
‘Enjoy your selfish actions’, they say. ‘Look out for number one’, they say.
‘Don’t worry about what God and the Bible say about loving God, your neighbour,
and being perfect’, they say, ‘we all sin all the time’, they say, ‘just look
after yourself’, they say, ‘and everything else will be okay’, they say.
This
selfishness is sad because by putting oneself before God and others, many
people are denying the power of Christ to change us. It is sad because they are
ignoring what is plain to see: if we seek the Lord, we will find Him. And as we
find Him, we will be transformed into His likeness no longer doing evil but
instead doing good. We can all be changed; we can all be sanctified; we can all
be holy. This is the gospel truth. John’s epistles record that we can be free
from sin; we should not be deceived: it is as obvious as the fact that
‘sometimes a cigar really is just a cigar;’ ‘if it swims like a duck and quacks
like a duck, it’s a duck;’ ‘a rose by another name is still a rose;’ and, 3
John 11, ‘…anyone who does what is good is from God. Anyone who does what is
evil has not seen God.’ And we can all see God and we can all have our lives
transformed so that He can do what is good even through us. Therefore, ‘Dear
friend[s], do not imitate what is evil but what is good.’
How
has God’s goodness been seen in our lives this week?
[1] Based on the sermon by Captain Michael Ramsay, 3 John 11: Be from
God; Do Good Presented to Swift Current Salvation Army, 10 Feb 2013 and 15
May 2011. On-line: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.ca/2013/02/3-john-11-be-from-god-do-good.html
Posts
