Don't Copy.... Imitate!

Three John was a letter written by John to Gaius and Demetrius, who were two faithful church-going men.  The letter was a warning about a man named Diotrephes, who was improperly controlling the church and rejecting the apostle and his teachings.

The letter was to serve as a strict warning on how “not to behave.”

Verse 11 in the NLT says this, “Dear friend, don’t let this bad example influence you.  Follow only what is good.  Remember that those who do good prove that they are God’s children, and those who do evil prove that they do not know God.”

Take a look at it in the KWT, “Beloved, do not have the habit of imitating the evil, but the good.  The one who is in the habit of doing good is out of God.  The one who is in the habit of doing evil has not seen God.”

Now take a look at it in Passion Translation, “Delightfully loved ones, don’t imitate what is evil, but imitate that which is good.  Whoever does good is of God; whoever does evil has not seen God.”

Take a look at the word “habit” in the KWT.  I pulled this one out because I LOVE this word!  Habit means this = "an acquired behavior pattern regularly followed until it has become almost involuntary; a dominant or regular disposition or tendency."

It has been my personal prayer conviction to move from voluntary to involuntary.  In other words… our bad habits often become involuntary actions.  Meaning - we don’t have to work hard at doing the evil - they come naturally.  We are human, after all.  But we have to change that.  We must shift from involuntary evil, to involuntary good.  Where we have been walking with Jesus and know Him by experience so deeply, that our habits of good behavior are simply…. involuntary.  We do good by habit without even thinking about  it!

Also, in the KWT, look at the words here and how it is written, “imitating THE evil.”  I found this to be really interesting.  It doesn’t just say, “do not have the habit of imitating evil”, but it says, “do not have the habit of imitating THE evil.”  What evil?  THE evil you see in other people.  In other words - people are not the one to be mirroring after.  Evil resides within them… and so the goal is to always look, instead, like Jesus.  We are not to “copy” what we see - THE evil in others, but instead, living like Jesus means making the habit of doing good - REGARDLESS of what others look like, what mistakes others make, or what evil surrounds them.

Now, Take a look at the words in the Passion Translation, “don’t imitate that which is evil, but imitate that which is good.”  According to my research, the Aramaic definition for this verse is strangely different.  It reads like this, “Beloved, don’t treat him with malice, but with blessing (good deeds).”


And this might just change the game for the entire verse!

We are not to copy what is evil or imitate behavior that is bad.
And our tendency, like here among these men in the church, is to look at the PERSON who has the evil with them, and treat them as though THEY were the enemy and with malice.  Which - in essence is giving them back the same evil that we’re looking to avoid in them!
And so, to be like Jesus, we don’t COPY bad behavior by treatment of malice…we actually COPY good behavior of Jesus and treat everyone with a blessing - - whether they deserve it or not.

1 Peter 3:9 says,  “Don’t repay evil for evil. Don’t retaliate with insults when people insult you. Instead, pay them back with a blessing. That is what God has called you to do, and he will grant you his blessing.”

So much richness…. God help us to be better!