APOSTLE JOHN'S "SUPERPOWER"

14 March 2017

Did you know that John was the only apostle who had died of old age? (That is, IF he died...🤔... but that is different discussion for another day 😉) This may not, at first glance, seem all that important, until you look deeper into the life of John. He was known as the disciple whom Jesus loved. Yet, we know that Jesus loved, and loves, every soul equally and without reserve. Then how is it that this is said of JOHN in the Bible? Well, actually it was John who said it of himself! Not out of arrogance, but because of the REVELATION. He understood, believed and held fast to our Lord's immeasurably and extraordinarily gracious LOVE for us.

When you read more about John's life "after Jesus" (and this is a very basic resumé just to illustrate my point), you kinda can't help but giggle, because those poor pagans really tried their very best to get rid of John - even boiled him in oil! - but John simply wouldn't die! Which is why they banished him to Patmos. They wanted him out of sight and somewhere he could not testify about Jesus... And we know what happened to John at Patmos! 😌

We cannot help but wonder "Why John?"

Maybe, just maybe, the revelation he held so dear to, is the very thing that made him so "special".. In the end, isn't it exactly what we are all running after? To love and BE LOVED...! Isn't THAT the core need that we try so desperately to fill, that causes us to run into wrong relationships, or after substances that might help us to forget that we are NOT experiencing the love we so crave?

Of all the things that John may or may not have understood regarding God, he grasped the gist of Jesus' message: that the whole Law and the prophets can be resumed as: love God, love yourself, love everybody.

My point is this: it is ALL ABOUT LOVE.

Yet, we MISS the point every bloody day! Just this week I noticed posts of christians critisizing each other for having different convictions. I myself have been accused of missing the mark (which I obviously do to some extent). Listen, we all get it wrong somewhere, and I am no exception to the rule. But before I criticise somebody else for his apparent failures, and he criticises me for my whatevernesses, we better be sure that we are displaying the fruit of the Spirit. These are all based on LOVE. While we should be careful not to overindulge in "this", or not to over-analyse "that"... let us, before we do anything else, learn to....LOVE.

22 But the fruit of the Spirit [the result of His presence within us] is love [unselfish concern for others], joy, [inner] peace, patience [not the ability to wait, but how we act while waiting], kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control. Against such things there is no law. (Amplified Bible)