3 John 13 KJV
[13] “I had many things to write, but I will not with ink and pen write unto thee:”
Whenever I read this verse I’m curious about the phrase “many things”. John has written about many things in his epistles, but in this third and final epistle he tells us he has so much more to say. I would love to know what more was on the great apostle’s heart. What more did he have to write unto them? How much more detail or doctrine did he want to add? It definitely leaves us wondering, but it also leaves us with a tremendous thought.
A man can spend his life teaching, preaching, and sharing the truths of God’s Word, but when he gets to the final stretch of life he realizes the half has not been told. There is still so much more to say about the Creator, the Christ, the cross, the Comforter, the church and the coming king and kingdom. We simply cannot get it all told!
As long as this world lasts, there will be more songs sung, more sermons preached, more books written and more testimonies given about God, his Book, and his Son. It is a story that is never ending, and the burden to share it never leaves. We simply pass it on to another generation, so they can continue the work of declaring the message that John spoke of, in the first chapter of the first epistle.
John knew he could continue writing, but he felt inspired to wait and share his final thoughts when he came to see the brethren. Like John of old we will all one day write our final words in life. We will lay down the pen of life, never to write in this world again. However, this does not mean we have nothing else to say, it just means we have run life’s final race. As we cross the finish line from this world into the glory world we will have so much more to say!