3 John 1:5
“Beloved, thou doest faithfully whatsoever thou doest to the brethren, and to strangers;”
The actions of fellow Christian brothers and sisters will be some of the greatest hurts you will experience in the Christian life. Throughout my ministry, it has not been the world that has hurt or attacked me in the greatest way, but it has been those who were closest to me and who I considered my dearest friends. Whether or not we like this, it is part of the Christian life that you will have to expect.
There are three types of people who you will deal with in your life. One thing you will have to come to grip with is that those who hurt you will be the ones closest to you. Even David experienced this hurt in Psalm 41:9 when he said, “Yea, mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, hath lifted up his heel against me.” Let me show you the three personalities you will deal with in your life.
The first personality will be like Diotrephes. It was said about him in verse 9, “…who loveth to have the preeminence among them, receiveth us not.” There will be people who are all for themselves in the Christian life and will do anything to you if they feel that you are taking their glory. These types of people will say bad things about you if they feel that you are a threat to them. When this happens to you, you are going to have to let God deal with them. Don’t fall to their level and do evil back towards them. You must do right and realize that God will reward you in His timing.
The second personality you will have to deal with is found in 2 Timothy 4:10 where it says, “For Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world…” Demas helped Paul on his first journey, but the world’s lure eventually pulled him away from serving the LORD. Friend, you are going to find if you serve the LORD for a long time that there will be many people who once served with you that eventually gave in to the pressures of the world. You cannot allow this to discourage you. You must continue to stand for truth. Just because others have given in to worldly pressures doesn’t mean you need to give in. You will find that your friends at the end of your Christian life will mostly be different people from those with whom you first started serving. When others forsake the Christian life for the world, you must determine to keep on standing for truth.
The third personality is found in 3 John 1:12 when it says, “Demetrius hath good report of all men, and of the truth itself…” Demetrius was that person who supported the man of God through everything. I want you to notice that the reason he supported the man of God was because “of the truth.” These are the people you must continue to encourage. These are the people who may not have the outgoing personalities, but they are the ones who you can depend upon when others forsake or attack you.
These three personalities aptly describe what types of people you will encounter in the Christian life. The question I have for you is, which one are you going to be? I know we all want to be a Demetrius, but we must guard against the love for the world and a desire for recognition. The key to being a Demetrius is to stay focused on truth. If you will stay focused on truth, a love for preeminence and the call of the world will have no affect on your daily walk. You will only be who you are supposed to be at the end of life if you will stay focused on truth.