Me-First Never Blesses and is Never Blessed
But Diotrephes, who likes to put himself first… (III John 9)
III John; Matt. 23:12; John 5:44
What Is God Saying?
In this brief letter by John, there are two bright lights and one dark shadow. The contrast is immediately obvious. John mentions three people by name. Gaius the beloved is the one to whom the letter is sent. He is a younger man who extended hospitality to the messengers John sent as ‘fellow workers in the truth.’ Demetrius is mentioned last and he, too, was prompted by selfless love, but the one in the middle is the thorn! It is his attitude that prompted this letter. Diotrephes wanted to be at the top of the totem pole. He had to be in charge at any cost. Maintaining his position of authority was more important than getting on with the real business of the Church. ‘He loved to put himself first.’ The itinerant missionaries sent by John and rejected by Diotrephes represented a threat to the program of the local congregation over which he exercised control. He was a strong-minded elder with an unloving and uncaring heart. His kind still lives on and, held captive by their icy grip, churches still grow inward and shrivel and die. This is a modern message.
How Does This Apply To Us?
Me-first people are insecure. They cannot recognize the needs and rights of others because they are so busy building little guardrails around their places of power and their positions of authority. They cannot lose themselves in the larger cause. They are great on order, especially the order they can control. They are lacking in love, thoughtfulness, and compassion because the needs of others and the work of the Lord are all washed out beneath the blinding light of their own needs for self-importance. We cannot reach out to others when our hands are busy gathering into ourselves. Me-first Christians are always taking in and seldom giving out. That is life's surest formula for death. Ask the Dead Sea.
Pray With Me
O Lord Jesus, You are the One whose name is above all others. You are the One at whose name every knee shall bow. You are the One whom every tongue will confess to be Lord. Yet You are willing to gird Yourself with the servant's towel and wash the disciples' feet. The Master becomes the model. I would learn from You the lesson of selfless love. Diotrephes has many followers in the world. He will not be my model.
Yet, I see the problem of Diotrephes showing up again and again. Honestly, I find it hard at times not to put myself first. Help me, Lord, to fill my eyes with the vision of Your glory and to fill my heart with the wonder of Your love. Lead me, gracious Spirit, until I am lost in the adoration of the risen, reigning Christ. Help me both to possess and to be possessed by the love of Jesus. Let Your will be my one desire. Let your Spirit of out-reaching love be my supreme responsibility. Only then can I remove the hard-dying root of pride.
A servant of Christ, far wiser than the little-known Diotrephes, chose the better way, ‘He must increase, I must decrease.’ I would follow Him. I would follow Him although the world calls it nonsense. He has found the lowly door to abundant and purposeful living. I would follow His example though it leads to imprisonment, shame, and even death. Only in the imprisonment of self am I released. Only in the shame of the Cross am I exalted. Only in the death of pride am I led to eternal life.
Through Jesus Christ who, now exalted, once emptied Himself and took the form of a servant. Amen.
Moving On In The Life of Prayer
When we get right down to the business of praying, its effectiveness usually depends on whether we are followers of Gaius or Diotrephes. If we find ourselves praying for others, we will find ourselves being blessed. If our prayer is frequently or even exclusively for ourselves (or ours), we may be following the lead of Diotrephes on a road that is neither blessed nor blessing. It is right that we pray for ourselves. It is a privilege. It is a blessing. We are lost without it. But having done so, a greater blessing comes when we pray for others.
