2 John Chapter 1

2 John starts by reminding us of the commandment to love one another. This fellowship of love is very important and in contrast to 1 John, we are now warned to protect this fellowship from those who are false teachers and deceivers within the church.

The false apostles and teachers are insidious and may seem to be with us. But if we know they are spreading lies and falsehood, we should not even invite them into our homes or greet them (vs 10).

We may think this is still basic courtesy but Elder John identifies this as aligning ourselves with the evil doers – so we should therefore prevent ourselves from being stained or defiled by these falsehoods and heresies.

But the verse I want to focus on today is verse 8.

Look to yourselves, that we do not lose those things we worked for, but that we may receive a full reward.

~ 2 John vs 8 ~

In the midst of reminding us to walk in God’s commandments and beware of the false teachers – Elder John gave us the instruction to “Look to yourselves.”

This is a much needed reminder. Have we really looked at ourselves recently to see where we are in terms of our faith?

Paul asked this better than me…

Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you are disqualified.
~ 1 Cor 13:5 ~

Test ourselves.

Eld John mentioned love. And commandments. Are we walking in them?

Eld John also mentions about falsehood and deceivers. Those who do not abide by the doctrines. Do we demonstrate this in our lives?

Paul said “So then each of us shall give account of himself to God.” (Rom 14:12)

When Jesus made an assessment of the believers in Thyatira, He noted that they were growing in good deeds, in the service and perseverance. In fact, there was progress in their spiritual lives over time.

Repenting, believing and being baptised is just the beginning of our salvation. That is not the end goal but only the beginning.

When we look to ourselves – do we see ourselves growing in love, faith and acts of service? Do we see ourselves knowing what are wrong teachings and avoiding them?

This is not something that happens just like that! We need to put in the effort to grow day by day to have a closer relationship with God.

My wife shared this with me the other day. In her bible reading group, they were talking about love as described in 1 Corinthians 13. They counted 14 or 15 characteristics of love.

Everyone was then asked to count how many of the characteristics of love they had. Everyone had a different number. But the conclusion that they drew was this – while they may believe that they do demonstrate the different characteristic of love, it was not done all the time.

For example, they may think that their love is patient. And truly, they are indeed the most patient people around. But sometimes, with family members, this love is tested and their patience fails them.

So love is patient … sometimes…

A deacon remarked recently that he thought he as a very patient man. But his child told him that his patience is only 1 cm thick. I can certainly relate to that as I too have failed in this love many times.

No one is capable of changing by ourselves. But we must first look to ourselves and recognize we are lacking. And then we must pursue our growth in our relationship with Jesus … cause that is where He can help us change from within.

May the “Grace, mercy, and peace will be with you from God the Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love.” (vs 3)

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