3 John: Do You Walk the Walk?

“For I have no greater joy than to hear my children are walking in the truth.” (3 John 4) Does your walk match your talk? I can honestly say that I want nothing more than for my children to rise up and follow Jesus. I want them to be pillars of faith and to spark change for the better in our communities. I want them to be a light for all they meet and I want all who see them to see Jesus. Nothing else matters to me. If they die with zero dollars but have brought someone to Christ it would have all been worth it. To do that, they had to grow up seeing that. I can’t tell them that is what I want and then go live for myself. Does my walk match my talk? Time for self inventory. Does the things I do daily reflect my end goal? Do my choices on how I spend my time with my children show my goal for their life? Do we discuss Christ? Do I teach the ways of the Lord? How else will they learn? Does my life emulate Christ to them? If not - why? 3John 11 says “Beloved, do not imitate evil but imitate good. Whoever does good is from God; but whoever does evil has not seen God.” I don’t think of evil as destroy the world evil. Evil can be as simple as choosing not to read the Bible story, as simple as choosing Facebook over watching your child ride his bike. Evil is anything that is contrary to what God would prefer you do in that moment.

So let us imitate good. Imitate Christ until it becomes second nature. Do what is right and good and raise up leaders and champions for our faith and our God. Not because He needs them because He doesn’t. But because the world needs them. And because it is the job we have been entrusted with.

Side note - this doesn’t have to be your children. If you are a boss it can be your employees. Do you have friends? Yup, you influence them too! God puts people in your life for a reason, no one is allowed to sit back and just ride through life. Anyone we have a relationship with, we influence.