Short and Sweet

Greeting

"From the church leader.

To my dear friend Gaius, whom I love because we share the truth.

Encouragement for Gaius

Dear friend, I know that you are spiritually well. I pray that you’re doing well in every other way and that you’re healthy."  3 John 1-2 GW


The bible is one very long book. For sure, many will not undertake to read all of it. Now what some people may not know is that the bible is not just one book. It is a compilation of several books -- total of 66* books, 39 in the Old Testament and 27 in the New.

Several of these books are long and a little hard to read. Some are nevertheless short and could be read in 10 to 15 minutes. Although short, some are easy to misunderstand or easy to miss what it is trying to teach those who read them.

Shortest Books of the Bible

The three shortest books of the bible are all just one chapter long, barely 300 words each.

They are all short enough to read through during your morning or afternoon coffee break. Or first thing in the morning after you wake up or in the evening before you call it a night.

These three books are all found in the New Testament bible and are all letters written by either the Apostle Paul or the Apostle John.

These books are:
1. the Third letter John (from which we have taken the short passage above),
2. the Second letter of John and
3. Paul's letter to Philemon.

In the Old Testament, the shortest book is that of the Prophet Obadiah.

Although in the Book of Psalms which consists of a total of 150 psalms, the shortest, Psalm 117 can be read in one minute (barely 30 words).

As we have mentioned above, short does not necessarily mean simple or easy. In fact, many verses could and are taken and used out of context.

It is fairly easy to make bible verses say what we want them to say.

To Drink or Not to Drink

Such as in Paul's letter to Timothy (1 Timothy 5:23) where he is telling young Timothy to drink a little wine.

People have quoted that and said that this is a command if not a license to.

Many twist bible verses like that, quoting a specific verse and using them out of context.

John Praying for Gaius

In the short passage above, we see that John, the writer of the letter, is writing to Gaius, a dear friend and John writes: "Dear friend, I know that you are spiritually well. I pray that you’re doing well in every other way and that you’re healthy."

A casual reader can take this to mean, that believers and followers of Christ ought to be wealthy -- as we can read that John is praying for Gaius to do well (be prosperous) in everything.

Another insight is that John is actually inferring that Gaius (a follower of Christ -- who is doing well spiritually) could be and is not doing so well in terms of finances and healthwise.  So he is praying for that to happen.

What could be lost in this is that obviously not because one believes and is a spiritually well follower of Christ, that they ought to be doing well in everything  else (healthwise, wealthwise or elsewise).

Hard Life

Actually almost all if not all the early believers had a hard life. They weren't all prosperous or wealthy nor healthy. Timothy who Paul was instructing to drink a little wine, was being instructed to do so because he was most probably having serious stomach issues due to having to drink unsafe water. Drinking wine was a wise advice to help with this health problem. And no, not to drink for no good reason at all and definitely not a license to get drunk.

Anyway, the Apostle Paul did write to the members of the Corinthian Church telling them that: “I am allowed to do anything but not everything is beneficial." 1 Corinthians 10:23

Now, that is short, sweet and simple!


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*This total number of books (66) does not include the deuterocanonical books. 66 does appear like such a long book to read, but by merely reading a handful of chapters each day, one can read through the entire bible in 6-7 months. The 27 books of the New Testament can be read in a month.

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