?Diotrophes or Demetrius?

So I'm guessing some of you guys are kinda clueless as to what I'm referencing at this point.  Maybe you aren't.  

It's not Psych.  


It's not The Classic Crime.  

It's not a Jesse Spencer interview from two years ago.  


It's not a Richard Gere movie.  

It's....

!!THE BIBLE!!

Demetrius and Diotrophes were two guys mentioned in the book of 3rd John.  And I swear I will explain what the post title means.  When I get there.  


So last night I was thinking about the fact that I really don't know all that much scripture by heart.  I've been really convicted about that lately, and I finally decided to do something about it.  


So I looked up some of the shorter books of the Bible.  I want to move up to memorizing James, but that's 108 verses, so I'm starting out easier. 

And 3rd John is 15 verses long.  


But, of all the shorter books, I felt like God was saying, "3 John.  Learn that one."  


I didn't know why, but, yeah, it's true.  So I read it and looked at the notes one who the people mentioned in John's letter were.  


Gaius was the guy the letter was addressed to.  John was sending "traveling teachers" to his and Diotrophes' city.  When Diotrophes, a leader of the church, turned them away, Gaius welcomed the teachers and learned from them.  


Back to that Diotrophes kid.  He was a leader in the church who wanted to have everything the way he wanted it without any outside opinions or input.  I bet he was kinda annoying.  But what John talks about being wrong about Diotrophes was not whether or not he was annoying, but the mistakes he was making.  He was not following Christ's teachings and wouldn't listen to people tell him differently.  


Then there's that dude Demetrius.  Well, he's pretty cool.  John says Demetrius "has received a good testimony from everyone, and from the truth itself."  He's kinda the opposite of Diotrophes.  


So that brings us to the post title.  


I wonder if I'm always being a Demetrius, or if I start to become a Diotrophes.  I don't lead others astray intentionally, but I'm not always open to the opposing opinions.  If someone tries to help me on Sudoku, I will claw their eyes out.  I shoot down others' ideas, occasionally just because I don't agree with them.  

If I'm not open to other people's opinions and ideas in simple things like music and Sudoku, will I be open to their suggestions when I'm wrong about scripture??  


So, over the next five weeks, starting on Sunday, I'm going to be memorizing the book of 3 John.  I hope that this task will put me closer to Demetrius, farther from Diotrophes, and much closer to God.  


An Indigo Goodbye from CatCooper<3