No Greater Love than This by Pastor Tom Hovsepian

No Greater Joy than This By Pastor Tom Hovsepian I recently bumped into a longtime friend and his family. It was a delightful time spent catching up and talking to each of his boys about their present endeavors and their future plans. Each of them had such diversity of focus and desires, and I could see their confidence and the security they had within themselves to pursue their own interests. The key really came when their dad told me he was on his way down to Bishop to purchase a couple of off-road motorcycles. What? I looked at mom to see her reaction. She was fine with it. Well, there it was. Mom and dad were purposeful in nurturing their kids to have the freedom to be different. They made room for the boys, even if it was a bit sketchy. I couldn’t imagine my friend wanting to ride a motorcycle on his own. But it wasn’t about what my friend wanted—for him it was about spreading out to encompass the desires of his kids. The Apostle John was like that. He said in 3 John1:4 “I have no greater joy than this, to hear of my children walking in the truth.” If you notice in the previous verse, he isn’t just talking about the doctrinal tenants of the faith. He uses the phrase “walking in the truth” twice in two verses. To him, it wasn’t just about knowing truth. It was about a lifestyle. Polonius, in Shakespeare’s “Hamlet”, speaks the same thing to his son, Laertes, as he heads off to university; “To thine own self be true.” What I believe Polonius and John were speaking to is every parent’s desire to see their children walking in their own convictions of who they are and how they are to relate to the Lord, and to the world they live in. When a child discovers this—and they have to discover it on their own—it brings, like John said, “no greater joy” to their folks. The Lord is like this with us. He absolutely loves it when we take initiative and launch out in the discovery of what pleases us, while simultaneously having a heartfelt desire to please Him. He is for us in our discovery of what it means to walk out the truth for ourselves. It brings such freedom to know that it is okay to be different. When Mom and Dad celebrate and cultivate the process of discovery as to what the truth is for us to “walk” in, life becomes a joy instead of drudgery. And that’s what is on The Father’s heart too, right? That our joy may be full! Tom Hovsepian is the pastor of Church on the Mountain, a vibrant community of believers in Crowley Lake. We meet at 9:30 Sunday mornings. Call for more information: 935-4272 or www.ChurchOnTheMountain.org