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2 John 1 - Church mistrust
Scripture:
2 John 1
The elder to the chosen lady and her children, whom I love in truth;
and not only I, but also all who know the truth
NASU
Thoughts:
There is a legitimate question as to whether the Apostle John is
addressing this to a literal woman or to some other entity, like a
church. I believe it is likely this is addressed to a church. John's
references to her children then, would be referring to believers of
that fellowship. And her sister is another church:
2 John 13
13 The children of your chosen sister greet you.
NASU
Notice John never names the "lady," which is odd considering all the
personal greetings in the epistles, in general. This seems another
clue that he is not addressing a literal woman.
With this understanding then, John is indicating the love that he and
others have for this church. I would hope that if a poll was taken of
most Christians, they would say they love the church to which they
belong, but what about other churches? I have noticed that often as
Christians we find ourselves somewhat
suspicious of other churches, for no legitimate reason. We have
questions about their style or church culture. Maybe we're not so sure
about their leadership. But where does this skepticism come from?
Perhaps jealousy? Maybe sinful pride, wanting to think only our church
is really doing ministry as God would have it done. Certainly
there is some surrendering to our sinful nature in one way or another.
The Lord prayed that we would be one, not divided, and certainly not
over suspicion.
Prayer:
Forgive me Lord, for any divisiveness in me. Help me to love not only
my own church, but all of the churches that are doing Your work. Let
not my need to be discerning cause me to begin to major on things that
are minor, searching for reasons to divide from another part of Your
Body.
Amen
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