Goodness Me!

3 John 1: 11

Beloved, do not imitate what is evil, but what is good. The one who does good is of God; the one who does evil has not seen God.

The instruction John gives us in the beginning of this verse is pretty obvious; do good instead of evil. When we get to the second sentence we begin to see the deeper spiritual considerations.

One of the most frequent questions I get is about Christians who behave badly. Even though we are saved, this transformation that Paul wrote about in Romans 12 is a process. None of us always behave in the way we want to, that is a certainty, so we have understanding and forgiveness for others as they struggle to be the person they are destined to be. How is it, though, that Christians can do evil? The answer is here in this verse. They haven’t seen God.

Everyone needs a personal encounter with Jesus. That is the singular event which ignites the transformative process. We need to see God, to have a personal encounter with Him. It is this which will open the doors of our heart. Merely uttering a prayer of salvation does not fuel the furnace of change. It is the beginning of the quest but the quest is for Jesus, the Father and for intimate relationship with the Holy Spirit as well. Saying a salvation prayer is not an end all. It is the inception of this wonderful time of coming to know the Father and of having meaningful fellowship with Him. It is that doorway through which we walk so that we can encounter the Father personally. The one who sees God, who meets Him; the person who has a one on one encounter with the Holy One will forever be changed. That is why I so want you to seek the Father. He is the power to radically transform our lives. Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. Only when we see the Father and the Son face to face will we have the power to put evil and bad actions out of our lives. Even though we are not yet perfect, this resident power within us causes a metamorphosis so profound that we are barely able to recognize ourselves.

Do you want to “do good”? Goodness is in the Father. The more we pour our lives into Him and allow Him to be intimately close to us, the more His goodness is revealed through us. I want to encourage you to pursue the Father, Son and Spirit with all your strength and help others to find their way to a direct encounter with God. It will be all good.