trouble from the start

Today in the One Year Bible, we read from 3 John 1:1-15. The entire book of 3 John, in fact. And it's very short and to the point. The take away message is that from the very beginning, there was trouble in the church. John, one of Jesus's disciples, warned the readers of this epistle that there was a man who was refusing to help those who taught the gospel and kicked anyone out of the church who did.

Which, I guess, shouldn't surprise us. I mean, God created Adam and Eve, and they themselves sinned by eating the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The very first humans God made sinned. And then Adam and Eve had children, and the very first son they had killed his little brother.

So we humans are pretty good at messing things up right away. It's like we can't wait to mess up what God gives us.

That should bring you some consolation, though. Because even though you, too, have messed things up in your life, God is used to us doing that, and He's very good at bringing us back home to Him.

God, thanks for putting up with us humans, who have a knack for messing everything up.