Practice doing good.

3 John 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. If we love one another, we encourage our beloved family to love and good deeds. According to the writer of Hebrews, that’s the objective for meeting together. “Let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds.” That’s exactly what John did with Gaius, his beloved brother. What Diotrophes did by refusing to extend hospitality and support to the Lord’s servants was evil. He also demanded that everyone in his church imitate him. John concluded that Diotrophes had not seen God because he continued in his evil deeds even after John’s letter of correction to him. I am reminded of John’s words in 1 John 3:6. “No one who abides in Him sins; no one who sins has seen Him or knows Him.” John wanted Gaius to continue to show that he was walking in the truth by imitating God’s generosity and love with regard to the saints on journey for the sake of Jesus’ name. This encouragement to Gaius encourages us to imitate God’s love toward us as we live to love with Jesus. We should practice doing good, which is the sense of “The one who does good is of God.” That’s what God’s love does. I remind you of a definition of God’s love: The sustained direction of the will (practice) toward the highest good of another, no matter what the cost, in the power of the Holy Spirit, for the glory of God. That’s what John encouraged Gaius to do, and what I encourage you to do. The one who lives to love in this way is of God.