Disciples part 3
You prove who you are by what you do. What you believe is inside comes out. If you let the love that inside you--the love that God has put inside you--come out, that's how you prove that you are a disciple of Christ. But don't forget what a disciple is: a student. Specifically, in this case, a disciple of Christ is a student of love. Learning how to love by learning how we are loved. So let me tell you a story about my favorite writer of the Bible. John, his name was. But that's not how he referred to himself in his own writings. "Peter tunred around and saw behind them the disciple Jesus loved--the one who had leaned over to Jesus during supper and asked, "Lord, who will betray you?"" (John 21:20 NLT). John referred to himself as "the disciple Jesus loved." Which, again, might seem a little selfish or self-centered. But it's really not. It's really just a revelation of the ultimate truth of the universe that God is love and He loves you. Now let me show you why I believe John was able to see himself this way. "He then lying on Jesus' breast saith unto him, Lord, who is it?" (John 13:25). John (the revelator) laid his head on Jesus' breast... and heard the heartbeat of God. FELT it. Experienced it. And when you go through that, I don't believe anything can happen BUT you get that revelation. And from then on? Yeah. John knew who he was. I think between John's gospel, his letters, and the book of Revelation we see some of the deepest most powerful truths in the entire Bible. And I think that's why. He experienced the hearbeat of God. He knew he was loved. To me it's very similar to when Jesus was baptized and came out of the water and a voice spoke from heaven declaring "This is my Son, in whom I am well pleased." To me, it's the same thing. The same voice, saying the same thing. It's that still, small voice deep inside all of us that is God saying "I love you, I love you, I love you" with every beat of His heart in our chests. Think about that--we even have it better than John did. He leaned on Jesus' breast and felt that heartbeat. We have that living heart beating in our chests! That's amazing to me. God gave us everything He has and everything He is on the cross. Didn't just give His life FOR us, but gave His life TO us. Simply because He loves us and He wanted us to have it. Simply because He didn't want us to perish, but have everlasting life. And now, because of the cross, that's not only what God wanted for us... it's what we have! He gave it to us. He brought us out of death and into life. And, according to John again (1 John 3:14 NLT), "If we love our brothers and sisters who are believers, it proves that we have passed from death to life. But a person who has no love is still dead." No love... no life. Know love... know life! Being a student of love is learning how to love... by learning how we are loved! Being a student of love is a life-long journey into the heart of the matter--which is the heart. God's heart beating with love in our chest. And it's important that we identify ourselves correctly; as the disciples that Jesus loves. If you know you are loved, you can love with that love. If you don't know you are loved, you will always be trying to get something you think you haven't got. Usually by trying to be someone you're not. So the first thing is knowing. You can't believe something you don't know. Knowing that God loves you. We love because He first loved us. Filling ourselves to overflowing with what we've already been filled with, and letting what's already in there--the love of God--come out!