Truth's Impact on Relationships

Did you ever watch the movie Star Wars and the sequels? In the very first movie both Luke Skywalker and Han Solo seem to be falling in love with princess Leia, and the princess appears to have difficulty choosing between the two handsome young men. But in one of the later movies Luke finds out that Leia is really his sister, and that truth changed the nature of his relationship with her.

Truth often has a way of changing the nature of our relationships, but perhaps the change is more pronounced in the relationship we have with other Christians when we know the truth than in any other. I think that is what the apostle John was saying in 2 John 1-3, "The elder to the elect lady and her children, whom I love in truth, and not only I, but also all who know the truth, because of the truth that abides in us and will be with us forever. Grace, mercy and peace will be with us, from God the Father and from Jesus Christ the Father's Son, in truth and love."

The elder was probably a nickname given to John as the last living apostle. Certainly when comparing the language between 1 John, 2 John and 3 John the conclusion is that one man wrote all three books, so it is logical to conclude that the apostle wrote all of them.

The elect lady and her children could possibly refer to a woman with a church meeting in her home, or John could be speaking metaphorically of the church as an elect lady. But one thing is clear; John is saying that he loves the people in this church because the truth abide in all believers. In fact John says that all people who know the truth would love them because the truth is in them as well.

What truth is he talking about? And how could truth change the way I think and feel about people who might well be strangers to me?

Well the truth that John is speaking of is the truth that God loves me and sent Jesus to die for me and for all believers. We know that because of the statement, "Grace, mercy, and peace will be with us from God the Father and from Jesus Christ...."

Grace, mercy, and peace only come to us through Jesus Christ's death on the cross to pay the penalty for our sins. God loved the world and sent his son to die and pay the penalty for us so that we could live forever with him. This is the truth that has an impact on every believer at the point of salvation. They realize that Jesus died for me. That truth leads those who believe it to a love for Jesus Christ and his Father.

But there is a corollary to that truth that should have further impact on us. It is only a short step from the realization that Jesus died for me to Jesus died for all who are believers. It would be completely inconsistent to love God and to hate someone that God also loves. That should change the way we view the obnoxious Christian that gets on our nerves every Sunday (of course, there is nobody like that in my church; I am only speaking about the obnoxious person in your church.) When I think about the fact that God really loves that person as much as he does me it makes me realize that I need to work harder to love that person.

There is one other thing that I think we should remember. The apostle John wrote in John 3:16 that, "God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son...."  God loves the whole world and Jesus died for the whole world. So it would be inconsistent to love God and not love all the people in the world.

The truth is, if we want to be like Jesus, we are obligated to love all the people of the world like he did. If we hate even one person, we cannot be like Jesus.