Getting Along Well

 

DEVOTION

THE 3^RD LETTER OF JOHN

GETTING ALONG WELL

3 John 1-4

1:1 The elder,

To my dear friend Gaius, whom I love in the truth.

2 Dear friend, I pray that you may enjoy good health and that all may go well with you, even as your soul is getting along well. 3 It gave me great joy to have some brothers come and tell about your faithfulness to the truth and how you continue to walk in the truth. 4 I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.

NIV

We have another personal type letter which has made it into the canon. The reason is due to the instruction and warning which it contains We cannot be certain as to which Gaius this letter was written to as a person by this name appears in other places in the scriptures and it is most likely they are all different men, one who traveled with Paul, one who lived in Ephesus and the other who lived in Corinth. Whoever this fellow is, we can be certain John considers him a dear friend. As we look ahead in this letter, we notice another person who is not at all like this Gaius. What we want to take note of, however, is in the greeting of John. He says that he prays Gaius may enjoy good health and that all may go well with him, even as his soul is getting along well. First, let us consider that it would be well for us to pray that the soul of others we know, our fellow believers, especially of those who we go to church with, gets along well. The soul here is referred to as the inner person, their spirit, who they are, and there relationship with our Lord. This is that inner self of us that either lives in contentment, or in turmoil. We know that the physical body, our health is directly connected to the state of our spirit or our mind. If we are filled with anxiety, discontentment, envy, greed, jealously, or even some hatred that shows up as not willing to forgive others, it can have an adverse effect on our health. We should be concerned, as John is, about the health of our dear brothers and sisters in Christ. Not that we continually badger them or pray without ceasing for them, but we should have a genuine care for them and pray they may enjoy good health as well as that all may go well with them. This going well has an interesting facet as we look at the Greek. The words translated as all may go well with you, directly means, to help on the road, however, passively it means to succeed in reaching, which figuratively implies to succeed in business affairs. But it can simply mean to have an easy life, to prosper in the journey of life. As we know, not every believer seems to have all three of these or for that matter any of them. We have seen believers who seem to struggle with health issues, struggle with life in general, not having any success in either business or their journey in life, seemingly to experience some trouble one after another as well as seemingly not content with their lot in life. Maybe we need to pray more for them than we have been or maybe we haven’t been praying for them at all, at least not in the right manner. But then would our prayer matter? Would God intervene and force them into having a soul that is getting along well? It would seem he could certainly help them with their health issues, and even in their life’s journey, but then they would need to be looking to him more, then looking to their selves. That is what seems to be the core issue for all of us, the direction of our heart, which way it faces, toward God or self. When we look to our own abilities, our own strength, our own well-being, we find we are so inadequate. We have seen those who spend an enormous amount of time and energy devoting themselves to healthy living, only to die young from some disease. We have seen some do everything to succeed in the affairs of life only to fail time and time again. What we know is that our only source for health, for life, for our soul is the Lord Almighty and as we get along well, it has to be due to Him. So let us pray for one another, that all goes well with us.