2 John 1 Devotional

Truth and Love Kept Together

“Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and from Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, will be with us in truth and love.”2 John 1:3 (BSB)

The elder's short letter to a chosen lady and her children holds together two things people often pull apart. He loves them in the truth, a truth that lives in believers and will be with them forever (1:1-2). He rejoices that some of her children are walking in the truth (1:4), and he urges them to love one another, which is no new command but the one they have had from the beginning (1:5-6).

The same letter contains a firm warning. Many deceivers deny that Jesus Christ came in the flesh, and the church is not to welcome such teachers into their homes or give them a greeting, because doing so shares in their evil work (1:7-11). That sounds harsh, but it guards the truth that makes love possible. Anyone who stays in the teaching of Christ has both the Father and the Son (1:9). The letter's greeting promises grace, mercy, and peace from the Father and the Son, with us in truth and love (1:3). Love without truth drifts, and truth without love grows cold. God gives both.

To think about: Do you lean more toward truth or toward love, and how might God be calling you to hold them together?