Who are you?

One day in the future I am going to have to apologize to the Apostle John. He made a statement in a book he wrote (John 13:23) and I have made fun of that statement several times. This was at the time when Jesus and His disciples were eating their last meal together before Jesus' crucifixion. John wrote about this event and made this statement,

"Now there was leaning on Jesus' bosom one of his disciples,

whom Jesus loved."

John was talking about himself here. For years I made fun of this statement, thinking John was bragging or just a young man full of pride. But recently the Holy Spirit has been able to get past that wrong thinking with the truth about what John said. John knew Jesus really did love him. That is why John was leaning on Jesus bosom, he knew Jesus wouldn't push him away, because He loved him. John was confessing the truth that he knew, "Jesus really does love me." John made this same declaration several times, "I am the disciple Jesus loves." I believe this was not some isolated event, but it was his lifestyle, John really knew Jesus loved him and he was not afraid to speak that out loud or write it down. He lived his life knowing he was a disciple that Jesus loved.

Now let's consider the fruit of that confession. The Holy Spirit wrote several books through John. But the book of 1 John is a fantastic book that reveals to us the love of God. Listen to just a few of the statements from this book.

"God is love... there is no fear in love... we love Him because

He first loved us." (1 John 4)

Here is a book that is packed with revelation about the love of God written through a man that knew Jesus loved him.

Now let's bring this home to us. We know God is no respecter of persons. He loves every son or daughter just as much as He loved John. What would happen if we made John's confession, our confession. What would happen to us if we confessed every day throughout the day, "I am the disciple Jesus loves." And let's take it one step further, "I am the son/daughter my Father loves." What could our Father, the God who is love, accomplish through us as this truth grew inside of us every day. What do you say we find out! Every day throught out the day make this your confession, "I am the disciple Jesus loves. I am the son/daugther my Father loves." Your emotions will fight you, your circumstances will fight you and religion will fight you, but let's push it through and see what the Holy Spirit will get done through us.