Therefore I exhort you, be imitators of me

 Good morning. John to the one to whom he was writing: I was very glad when brethren came and bore witness to your truth, that is, how you are walking in truth. It wasn't something that person did once in a while; it was a common every day thing that he was walking in truth. You are acting faithfully in whatever you accomplish for the brethren, and especially when they are strangers. It's hard enough when they are friends that you know. It's nearly impossible when you don't know them. Apparently these were people who were preaching the gospel. You have to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit though. I remember this friend of mine telling me about when he was new in the Lord. These two guys came knocking at his door. They were “evangelists”. They would go around hitchhiking and share the gospel as the rode. They would return to his apartment to eat and sleep. They would say “what is ours is yours, and what is yours is ours”. Of course they had nothing, and he had everything. He finally told them “take a hike”. Do not imitate what is evil, but what is good. The one who does good is of God; the one who does evil has not seen God. We judge them by their fruit. Father thank You that the reader acts faithfully towards the brethren. He/she walks in truth and only imitates what is good.