Leadership through Discipleship #8

John – The Power of a Relationship
A relationship that trusts

“And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name” (John 20:30-31).

The testimony of the Beloved Disciple was a thorough accounting of many of the signs verifying the deity of Jesus Christ. His Gospel is set apart from the others by his focus on who Jesus is rather than the things He had done. The close relationship of Jesus and John affords us an in depth eyewitness narrative of many details in the final week of Christ’s life. Only John is close enough to Jesus at the last supper to hear Jesus point out who it was that would betray Him. Only John stood at the foot of the cross and provided assurance that His mother would be cared for after Jesus was gone. Through this unique relationship John gained the trust and confidence of Jesus. John was the recipient of many insights and revelations because of this special relationship.

Trust only comes through time in a proven relationship. Friends may want to trust one another, but only when experience proves them worthy of trust can this rapport be enjoyed. Trust is not something we just decide to do but an affinity to be earned through the practice of life. When you have earned trust you can share the secrets of the soul with confidence in confidentiality.

No wonder John writes with such clarity of purpose in His Gospel. No wonder that he survives to become an elder to the churches and writes to them as little children in his epistles. No wonder he survives the exile on Patmos and records visionary insights of the apocalypse in the Revelation of Jesus Christ. John is a man who earned the confidence of Jesus and received an abundance of revelation for his writing.

A disciple who learns to trust and earns the trust of the master can expect to receive insights to share through this relationship. The conclusion of the Gospel speaks of John testimony, “This is the disciple who testifies of these things, and wrote these things; and we know that his testimony is true” (John 21:24).