apostle John | Craig T. Owens

December 2025
S	M	T	W	T	F	S
	1	2	3	4	5	6
7	8	9	10	11	12	13
14	15	16	17	18	19	20
21	22	23	24	25	26	27
28	29	30	31

Get Some Face Time

March 13, 2013 — Craig T. Owens

Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible.

The apostle John closed his second and third letters very similarly—

I have much to write to you, but I do not want to use paper and ink. Instead I hope to visit you and talk with you face to face, so that our joy may be complete. (2 John 12; 3 John 13)

John didn’t use his advanced years, or the difficulty and expense of travel, or the busyness of his schedule, or even the inconvenience of trying to work something into someone else’s schedule as an excuse to stay home and fire off letters.

Certainly letters have their value, but they are a one-way talking TO people. Personal visits are face to face time. They are a two-way talking WITH people. And this, John says, leads to joy for both parties!

How many excuses could I use today?

My schedule is so busy
Technology is very convenient to use
I’m not sure if they have the time
I really don’t have that much to say

Can I paraphrase John’s desire in a modern setting?

I have much to say to you, but I do not want to use Facebook or Twitter or texting. Instead I hope to visit you and talk with you face to face, so that our joy may be complete.

Make some time for face time, and you’ll be increasing both your joy and the joy of your friend as you talk WITH each other.

You may also be interested in a related post called Our Growing Communication Problem.

►► Would you please prayerfully consider supporting this ministry? My Patreon supporters get behind-the-scenes access to exclusive materials. ◀︎◀︎

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: 2 John, 3 John, apostle John, excuses, friends, interpersonal, loved ones, relationships, technology. 2 Comments »

Just Passin’ Through

September 9, 2012 — Craig T. Owens

This world is not my home. I’m just a traveler passing through. At times this world sure is beautiful! I love the sunsets, and the thunderstorms, and the oceans, and the forests. I love the animals, and the art, and the music.

But this is not my home. C.S. Lewis wrote—

“The books or the music in which we thought the beauty was located will betray us if we trust to them; it was not in them, it only came through them, and what came through them was longing. These things—the beauty, the memory of our own past—are good images of what we really desire; but if they are mistaken for the thing itself they turn into dumb idols, breaking the hearts of their worshipers. For they are not the thing itself; they are only the scent of a flower we have not found, the echo of a tune we have not heard, news from a country we have never yet visited.”

And the Apostle John gave me this warning—

Do not love this world nor the things it offers you, for when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you. For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father, but are from this world. (1 John 2:15-16 NLT)

This is not my home. I’m just passin’ through, and enjoying the scents and echoes of my Heavenly Homeland!

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: 1 John, apostle John, beauty, C.S. Lewis, eternity, Heaven, quote, travel, video. Leave a Comment »

Failure To Recognize

April 1, 2011 — Craig T. Owens

The Apostle John opens his gospel account with these sobering words:

[Jesus] was in the world, and though the world was made through Him, the world did not recognize Him. (John 1:10)

Commenting on this verse, A.W. Tozer wrote:

My fellow man, do you not know that your great sin is this: the all-pervading and eternal Presence is here, and you cannot feel Him? Are you not aware that there is a great and true Light which brightly shines—and you cannot see it? Have you not heard within your being a tender Voice whispering of the eternal value of your soul—and yet you have said, “I have heard nothing”? This is, in essence, the charge that John levels at human kind: Jesus Christ, the Word of God, was in the world, and the world failed to recognize Him.

I never want to be guilty of failing to recognize Jesus! Sometimes in the busyness of life—even the busyness of the ministry of the church—I can become guilty of being focused on the activity, instead of focusing on Christ, Who is supposed to be the focus of my activity.

So we’re taking a “time out” today. As a church we are fasting and praying for 24-hours to cleanse our hearts to recognize Jesus, and to recognize what He wants to accomplish as we commemorate Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday later this month.