I’m not suggesting, of course, that Jesus really does have favorites. But I do think that’s how John saw himself. He had a very real sense of how favored he was because he believed in his heart and confessed with his mouth time and again, “I’m the one Jesus loves!”
To some people it might have sounded like John was bragging. But that’s not why he said those things. He said them because he was there when Jesus preached Mark 11:22-23. He heard Jesus say: “Have faith in God. For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith.”
John knew that God is Love, so he realized that Jesus was essentially saying in those verses, “Have faith in the God who is Love. Have faith in Love Himself.” So that’s what John did. He “believed the love that God hath to us.” He had faith that “God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him” (1 John 4:16), and he spoke accordingly.
What effect did this have on his life?
It turned him into such a world overcomer that the devil himself couldn’t find any way to defeat him!
John was the only one who didn’t run out on Jesus when He went to the cross.
He outlived all the other disciples.
His enemies tried more than once to kill him, but they always failed.
History even records that in one instance, John’s persecutors boiled him in oil. That wasn’t just a figure of speech back in John’s day. Back then, they’d literally put someone in a boiling cauldron. After a while they’d reach in there with a grappling hook, pull out the person’s body, and the flesh would just fall off the bones.
In John’s case, however, that’s not what happened. When they pulled him up with that hook, he came out whole.
I’m telling you, God can do glorious things for you when you believe that He is Love! He can do miracles in your life when you truly believe He loves you!
So, press in to that revelation. Renew your mind to it. Fill your heart and your mouth with what The WORD of God says about it, and refer to yourself like John did. Declare every day: “I’m the one Jesus loves!” V
BVOV : 7
