“God showed how much He loved us by sending His one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through Him. This is real love – not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.” – 1 John 4:9-10 (NLT)
It all begins with love! True and pure love that we can’t fully fathom or comprehend. But as Jesus followers, this love is the defining factor and foundation for everything else in our life.
The disciple John stands out to me as one who grasped the weight of Christ’s love. John is distinct from the other disciples in regard to how he refers to himself. We see six times in the gospel written by John, that he refers to himself as “The disciple whom Jesus loved.” While this phrase may appear strange, even something that could be read as arrogant, I actually believe it’s something that we can all learn from. John was loved by Jesus. He was confident of it and understood that love was his identity and “I am the one who is loved by Jesus” became the foundation for the rest of his life.
It can never be what we can do for God, but who we are because of God. We are the loved of God. His Beloved. This is the identity that we’re to be living out, day after day. It’s the answer to the “why” behind the things we do, the words we speak, and the actions we take, and it’s in contrast to the things we don’t do, the words we don’t speak, the actions we will not participate in. Why? Because we are the loved of God. Our purpose is all encapsulated in that one little word – all because of Love.
When we place our identity in any other source than Love itself, we are subject to being lulled into believing we are someone other than who God created us to be. Love is our identity that changes every facet of our lives – and He molds us to become a reflection of His love. “We love because He first loved us.” – 1 John 4:19.
While the enemy of God schemes to destroy the source of our identity, working overtime to sway the world into believing a different definition of the word “love”, we know that Love has a name. Jesus is Love! So, may we be women who grasp the weight of our identity in Him, knowing confidently that we are the disciples who Jesus loves. May we not succumb to any other label, for Christ’s love is the banner we carry. The hope by which we live and the name that we bear.
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