Not evil, just lost

3John 1:11

11Beloved, 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.

Notice here how John (I understand that is a bone of contention with some) does not call the one who does evil evil, nor does he condemn them. He makes no attack against them at all other than they are referred to as not seeing God yet.

I feel this is an important thing to point out because it shows that there is hope for everyone. All of us who are in Christ should live with the hope that all will see God (become saved) before their life is over. That is why I so often will say that we must be careful to not judge others harshly.

Today we are far from that ideology. Today we curse those that do not agree with us, hold them in contempt, or condemn them. Their ways might be evil, but there is hope for every person. They just have not seen God yet. We as a community need to start building that belief again. We should do more reaching out, and less building ourselves up!

Could you imagine if Christians judged Paul before his trip to Damascus? I am sure they would have felt pretty silly after Paul saw the Lord! Here was a man who had not seen God, but once he did, he became one of the most well knows Christians of his time! We do not know God’s plan for us, let alone his plan for anyone else! You never know…the person who is doing evil today, just might be a great Christian next year; they just have not seen God yet!

Peace,
Rev. T