BEYOND

Verse Passage: John 13:23 “One of them, the disciple whom Jesus loved, was reclining next to him.” – NIV

Jesus saw something in the hot-tempered and quick John. Jesus went beyond, He went into the deep within John’s soul. He focused not on what the disciple was or how the disciple saw himself, or even how others saw the disciple. Instead He focused on what the disciple could become when refined and enabled by God’s grace.

(Refined: Having taken out impurities or unwanted elements. having been removed by processing to bring about purity & clarity.  

Enabled: to make able: to give power, to give ability, to authorize) 

Christ loves taking hopeless impure material and making it a pure refined object of His grace. He changed John into one of the most loving disciples. John was one of Jesus’ inner circle members, he was with Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration, which was in Gethsemane, and even with Jesus at the cross. After Mary Magdalene said that Jesus’ tomb was empty, John raced to the grave with Peter and believed. 

John was an impatient firebrand, exploding at each slight. But he was transformed into a gentle, loving man. John wrote, “Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.” (1 John 4:11 NIV). Jesus’ love flowed from His heart directly to John. And John believed that the very essence of Christianity was love.

John’s life tells us that if we spend time with Jesus, we become like Him. The moment you accept what Jesus offers, you become as He sees you.

When Jesus looks at you, He looks beyond. He sees the potential deep within you. 

So many times we feel useless, worthless, a feel very much lol an average person. But Jesus sees beyond what you see. Jesus wants to take the uselessness, the worthlessness and averageness and transform that into usefulness, priceless, and rarity. When we spend time with Him we too can see BEYOND. 

God bless! 

Copyright © 2019 by Jacob D. Olinger