I didn’t post yesterday.  I didn’t even Twitter much.  It actually was freeing.  I didn’t feel pressure to be creative, I was just being infused by the Creator.  I will post later today the Wednesday Video Blog of the week…

I was reading in 2 & 3 John this morning.  John reminded me that I can say that I love God all I want to, but if don’t do what he commanded me to do then it is just empty words (vs. 6).  Love one another.  Some of the most unloving people I have ever met are Christians.  Some of them are Christian leaders.  Later in 3 John, he tells us a first hand story of someone who is in leadership and doesn’t show much love.  His name is Diotrephes.  The next phrase in the NLT is the indictment that I never want to have tagged on me.  John says he “who loves to be the leader.”  Now, let’s be clear.  If John were talking about me I wish he would say, “Jason loves to be A leader.”  I think that would be a great compliment coming from apostle that Jesus loved.  But look at it again…”who loves to be THE leader.”  Diotrephes likes to stand up there and hear the sound of his own voice.  He likes the bright lights and seeing himself on the big screen behind him.  He loves to wield his power in and on the people he leads.  We don’t know much more than this about him, but I think it is enough.  Diotrephes showed his true motives by refusing to love his brothers who were preaching the Gospel to the farthest reaches of the world.  He was going as far as excommunicating people within his church that did help the traveling teachers.  He was even questioning John’s testimony.  Talk about treading on thin ice.  You question the motives and testimony of one of Jesus’ closest friends?  John must have wondered how far off the path this mission had gone.  John reminds his friend Gaius in verse 11, “…don’t let this bad example influence you.  Follow only what is good.  Remember that those who do good prove that they are God’s children, and those who do evil prove that they do not know God.”

So what’s the point?  The only way people see Christ is if we love them.  If I can’t even love those I am supposed to be on the same team with, how can the world expect to see Jesus through me when I am out there with them?  John goes as far as to call it evil.  It isn’t just wrong, it is evil.  My prayer is that I love everyone, while challenging them to the next level in their journey with Christ.  1 Corinthians 13:1 puts it this way, “If I speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or clanging cymbal.”