Bad Guys; Good Guys

 3 John 1:9 I have written something to the church, but Diotrephes, who likes to put himself first, does not acknowledge our authority. 10 So if I come, I will bring up what he is doing, talking wicked nonsense against us. And not content with that, he refuses to welcome the brothers, and also stops those who want to and puts them out of the church. 11 Beloved, do not imitate evil but imitate good. Whoever does good is from God; whoever does evil has not seen God. 12 Demetrius has received a good testimony from everyone, and from the truth itself. We also add our testimony, and you know that our testimony is true.

This brief letter from John answers one overriding question from both that day and ours: What does love really look like? As we have seen in his first two letters, we know someone had received the love of God in Christ by their obedience to his Word and by their love for fellow saints.  But does that love mean that we allow them so say or do anything without correction or rebuttal? First, on the positive side, hospitality is a mark of truth faith; lack of hospitality makes the sincerity of said faith questionable. Second, when we hear someone say something contradictory to the Gospel, it is not "loving" to say it is okay. Third, actions prove the sincerity of our words.  We cannot proclaim to be His, then do what He has proclaimed as evil.