Lighthouse Keeper

So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!” John 20:2

Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” As soon as Simon Peter heard him say, “It is the Lord,” he wrapped his outer garment around him (for he had taken it off) and jumped into the water. John 21:7

Peter turned and saw that the disciple whom Jesus loved was following them. (This was the one who had leaned back against Jesus at the supper and had said, “Lord, who is going to betray you?”) John 21:20

John cracks me up. As the author of the gospel of John he regularly refers to himself as “the disciple that Jesus loved”. Talk about self flattery! 

But aren’t we all the disciples that Jesus loved? Of course we are and it’s easy to have head knowledge that God is love and yes, Jesus loves you and all that. Do you really get that Jesus loves you? That he is super proud of you and delights in you? (Psalm 147:11)

I collect sneakers (mainly Nike’s like Jordans and Dunks and AirForce 1’s). Sometimes I have a sneaker crisis of faith that I am too vain about my sneakers and spend too much on materialistic things and I should just give them all away. I was at a cafe when I saw a little four year old walk up in  a stylish pair of baby Jordans. I said to him “Hey great kicks! I like your shoes, they’re cool”. 

The Dad came in after him and was grinning with joy. His kid did look cool. He did look stylish and I know who had bought him the shoes. His Dad. He didn’t scold him for being vain or materialistic. His Dad had dressed him up to go uptown and look awesome. 

Immediately I thought what a nice Dad and what a nice kid. The kid was glorifying the father by shining in his gift of love. 

“Tell the lady thank you”. 

So the little four year old said ‘thank you’ and off they went to have lunch. That’s it. Just say thank you. Receive from the Lord and be grateful for the many blessings he has bestowed on you. False humility and beating yourself up is just rejecting the many blessings of God. The air that you breathe is a blessing. The body you walk around in. So why would Jesus get caught up on a pair of Nike kicks?

He doesn’t. You are the disciple that Jesus loved and He is proud to call you His son or daughter. He delights in you-and your Jordans.