Beloved Child of God

I was listening to a Beth Moore tape yesterday on the disciple John. She brought out a very interesting point. We all know that John was called "the beloved disciple" and "the disciple whom Jesus loved". But I never realized that the only person who called him that was John himself! How odd is that? No other gospel contains those words.

John was most likely the youngest disciple. The one with the most energy. The one who stuck the closest to Jesus. He was always right by His side. But even so, He was so sure of the love that Jesus had for him, that he had not qualms about calling himself the beloved of Jesus! He had no doubt whatsoever that Jesus loved him.

That, beloved, is how we need to be. We need to know without a shadow of a doubt, undeniably, that Jesus loves us. We tell our children that. We tell our grandbabies that. We tell other people that. But do we tell our own selves? We have to be secure and grounded in our knowledge of Christs' love for us.

In John 13:23-25 the scripture tells us that John was actually leaning on Jesus. He was reclining on Him. Why? Because John wanted to be near Him. He wanted to touch Him. Because he loved Him and because he knew that Jesus loved him in return.

We have to become so sure of His love for us that we want to lean on Him and get as close to Him as we possibly can. Bask in His love for us. Feel His presence in our lives. We need to take a lesson from John and have that security deep inside of us. We are loved by Christ.

"We love Him because He first loved us" (1 John 4:19)

"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life." (John 3:16)

Basking in His love,
Beth