November 26-28, 2010
2 John
Lynell McCrary
When I played college basketball, we adopted a phrase that was repeated often. In fact, it was so fundamental to what we believed that we made shirts to wear around campus: “Offense sells tickets, defense wins games, rebounding wins championships.”
What this meant to our team was if we trained well and practiced the basics of basketball, we would have strong influence over opposing teams. Who we played, when we played and where we played would become less significant when we came prepared to play. It meant that in everything we did, whether in practice or games, we needed to remember to stick to the basics.
The author of 2 John referred to the same concept. He communicated that the basics are still the same: love God and others. This love should radiate in everything we do or, as verse 6 points out, “walk in love.” As we are reminded of the first commandment to love, it makes the “who” we are to love, “when” we are to love and “where” we are to love less significant than the command to love. Those things are still important, because they give us the opportunity to participate in what we have practiced and learned.
Let’s remember the basics: love God and love others.
Lynell, who serves as Grace Covenant’s Connections Director, describes her favorite meal to include “pizza as an appetizer, pizza for the main course and pizza for dessert! And of course a side of ranch dressing for each course.”
