One of Jesus main guys was John. He had a close, deep friendship with him. The "gospel" of John really brings this out - the closeness, the depth of their relationship as brother in God.

In fact, John calls himself, the "disciple whom Jesus loved," in John 21:20.

John knew that he was loved by Jesus, so therefore he was really sensitive and open to the words of Jesus when Jesus talked about the idea of God not only loving us, but being love.

John went from being one of the "sons of thunder" to being a disciple of love. Through the continual discipleship and confrontation of Jesus, we see John transformed.

Here's the idea: Jesus confronts each of us as he confronts John. God knows us completely. And I would suggest to you that we can't know the depth of the love of Jesus for us unless we are willing to face the fact that he knows us completely.

Otherwise we deceive ourselves into thinking that God must love the people that we are pretending to be (and we all pretend in one way or another) rather than the sinners we actually are.

God accepts us as we are - but loves us to much to keep us that way!

Here's the "formula"...accept God's love...be willing to change...and be transformed!