In the Article I posted a few days ago I wrote about how John referred to himself Three times in His Gospel, as “the one Jesus loved.”

I wrote about how John was convinced He was God’s favorite and how his revelation of God’s love is available to us.

Shortly after I discovered these three verses , God began to speak to my heart. I started thinking about John’s understanding of Jesus’ love and wondered if I was capable of loving in the same way.

Recently, one night at the supper table, while holding hands with my family, I told my wife she was “the one” I loved, that I loved her best, she was my favorite. Then I looked at my oldest daughter and I told her the same thing. I moved on to my son and finally my youngest daughter repeating myself as I went. You are “the one” that I love…

And you know what, it was true and everyone at the table knew it. Somehow I was able to love each of them best.

Paul tells us in Romans 8:11 that the same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead lives in us. It stands to reason then, that we should be able to love just like Jesus does. In fact, I think that’s why we are here. We exist to know God’s love and love in turn. Our lives are meant to be a response to the unraveling always good revelation of His one of a kind affection.

That’s what this new life we have entered into is all about. The moment we surrendered to God’s love, the moment we received our salvation, we said yes to love and yes to becoming love.

I would like to suggest that the “Christian” experience, journey, walk, or whatever you want to call it, isn’t just about going to church, it’s about becoming church. It isn’t just about going to heaven when we die, it’s also about bringing heaven to earth while we live. It isn’t just about receiving the beautiful love of our Savior and friend Jesus, it’s also about becoming that same love. And I am convinced that the only way to become love is to know His love as John did. To be sure as His favorite!

Several years ago, I began dialoguing with my heavenly Father from John’s perspective. When praying I would thank Him for His love, not the wide vague concept of love but the personal intimate one of a kind love He has for me. I don’t pray this way out of some insecurity or arrogance, on the contrary. I have learned that the more aware I am of how much He loves me, the greater capacity I have to love those around me. I can say to my wife, my kids, my neighbor, the guy sitting next to me at Starbucks “you are ‘the one’ I love.”

A person can’t give away what they don’t possess. That’s why it is so important that we begin to see ourselves as God does, thereby possessing love and giving it away in greater measure.

I encourage you today to ask your heavenly Father to love you best, to reveal to you that you are “the one” that He loves and then begin to love those around you like you believe it.

Jason Clark is a writer, speaker and lead communicator at A Family Story ministries. His mission is to encourage sons and daughters to grow sure in the love of an always-good heavenly Father. He and his wife, Karen, live in North Carolina with their three children.

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