Because someone else has to hear it.
The date was March 23, 2016, and it was my morning reading that day… John 13:23, 19:26, 20:2. 21:7 21:20.
All the times John refers to himself as, “The disciple Jesus loved.”
“The disciple Jesus loved was sitting next to Jesus at the table.” (John 13:23)
I had to chuckle when I first read the words. Those seemingly prideful words coming from the pages of the book that bore his name.
And John’s name signifies “gracious”. And perhaps he was just that.
Because gracious means… “favorable, kind, benevolent, merciful, expressing kindness and favor, renewed or implanted by grace, excellent, graceful, becoming.”
Ahh… definition always deepens perspective and allows us entry into a world of opportunities overflowing.
I see it differently by definition.
John was gracious.
And to himself so powerfully.
Favorable.
Kind.
Benevolent.
Merciful.
Expressing Kindness.
Favor.
Renewed grace.
Implanted grace.
Excellent.
Graceful
Becoming.
John knew the secret!
And as much as I’ve wondered about the boldness of his declaration, “I am the one whom Jesus loves”… the more I am convinced that John called himself by which he was absolutely certain Christ saw Him.
Because his very name (John) declared favor and mercy and grace and kindness.
Could it be that John identified himself as the “one whom Jesus loves” because he was the only one in the bunch who believed it? The only one who identified himself according to how he believed God saw him??
And could it be that WE begin declaring His love for us with boldness like John… the one meaning gracious? Because seeing ourselves the way Christ sees us is becoming gracious to ourselves?
Our self-concept changes when we begin seeing ourselves the way He sees us.
It’s about speaking life to our lives.
Because we believe more of what we tell ourselves than what anyone else tells us.
And it deeply matters - this graciousness to self!
Oh friends, that we would begin declaring today… “I am the one whom Jesus loves!”
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