Derek Smith, Lead Pastor LHBC
3 John 1-4
1 The elder to the beloved Gaius, whom I love in truth.
2 Beloved, I pray that all may go well with you and that you may be in good health, as it goes well with your soul. 3 For I rejoiced greatly when the brothers came and testified to your truth, as indeed you are walking in the truth. 4 I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.
I still remember when Reaghan, our daughter, was born. She is the oldest of our five children and when she came along we were beside ourselves. We were brand new parents so everything was a first for us. First bottle, first diaper, first little smile, it was all so exciting. Her first word was “dada”, and I still remind my wife of that from time to time with a little smirk on my face. One of the most exciting firsts was Reaghan’s first steps. Once she started crawling my wife and I began working feverishly to get her to walk. We held her hand, we stood her up at the couch and put a toy at the end. We placed her bottle on the coffee table so she would have to stand up and move to get it. We tried everything, and then it happened! It was greater than when Neil Armstrong landed on the moon! It’s as if an epic symphony began to play in the background, bum bum ba bum, and she hasn’t stopped since.
In the book of 3 John the Apostle begins the book by talking about how Gaius was walking in the truth. Just like a new parent he had no greater joy than to see his child in the Lord walk with Jesus. We are children of God and the Lord has no greater joy than for us to walk in His ways. How do you walk with the Lord? Just like a young baby it takes just one step at a time. One right step after another in succession. It’s easy for us to focus on running for God, running in service, running in mission, running for our families, but the Scripture says we must walk with the Lord before we can run in service for Him.
We walk with the Lord through prayer. Prayer is our opportunity to walk hand in hand with the Lord and speak with Him face to face. Until we slow down and just enjoy Jesus we cannot run the race of mission He has for us. Also, we walk with the Lord through meditating on and obeying His Word. We must listen to His voice and follow what He says if we are going to walk with Him.
Lastly, we walk with the Lord through rest and reflection. My wife and I like to go on dates (Guys, dating really just started when we got married). Our favorite thing to do on dates is to just sit and talk without being interrupted. We don’t always have to have dinner. Sometimes we can just get ice cream and talk, but the key is to just sit, relax, and converse. Walking with the Lord requires intentional times of weekly rest and reflection. Where is rest and reflection in your schedule? If it’s not there put it on your schedule and honor that appointment with the Lord.
What a joy it is to see our children walk! The Lord thinks the same thing about us. He has no greater joy than to see His children walk in truth. Walk with the Lord. Pray. Read and apply God’s Word. Rest. Reflect. Just be with Jesus.
PRAYER FOR TODAY:
Dear Lord, I long to just be with You. Walking with You is the greatest joy of my life. Speak to me Lord and give me ears to hear You. Guide my path Lord and I will follow. In Jesus name, amen.
MEMORY VERSE OF THE WEEK:
1 John 5:12-13
Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life.