“Intimacy really requires time together, spending time in the presence of God. It requires prayer. It requires what Dallas Willard talked about when it comes to letting the words of Jesus pour over you until it begins to change the practices of your life and the way you live.” Dr. Robert Crosby

Jesus is on the move, and if we’re not moving toward Him in intimacy, we’re moving away from Him. On this edition of Live the Promise Susie and Dr. Robert Crosby unpack his book, The One Jesus Loves. When we look at the relationships in the life and ministry of Jesus, we see six distinct circles of influence that He maintained. Susie and Robert examine each one and what intimacy looks like.

The crowds
Many people stand far off and admire Jesus as a moral teacher or a man ahead of his time. The people in this circle listen to Jesus’ words but move on without letting themselves be affected by His call. Robert says there’s a distinction between knowing Jesus’ words and knowing Jesus. “We have to be careful not to equate listening and watching with following and embracing.”

The five thousand
These people followed Jesus into the desert. Jesus saw them, was moved with compassion, and fed them. In response they tried to make Him king by force. For them, the felt need was more important than the person of Christ. “The temptation is to look only at the hand of God and miss His face.”

The seventy
“Is there joy when God uses us? Yes. But the ultimate joy is in knowing Him and making Him known.” Robert warns us not to get so focused on working for God that we miss the relationship He wants to maintain with us. The seventy returned to Jesus rejoicing that the demons were submitting to them. His response was, instead, rejoice that their names were written in heaven.

The Twelve
We see the missteps and faults of this group most clearly in the gospels, but it was because they spent the most time alongside the Savior. As part of Jesus’ daily life, they had more opportunities to repent, more opportunities to learn, more opportunities to see Jesus’ humanity and more opportunities to see Jesus’ glory.

The Three
These three were confidantes who followed Jesus to “places of glory and places of suffering.” They were with Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration and the Garden of Gethsemane.

The One
The one recorded more of Jesus’ words than anyone else, sat next to Jesus at the Last Supper, saw Him crucified on the cross and recognized Him on the seashore after the resurrection. “John had a unique closeness with Jesus. Who of all the disciples was privileged to see the Revelation of Jesus? It was John, the beloved.”

Key Scriptures: John 14:21

Theme Song: You Are the One by Lincoln Brewster

Highlight : The one Jesus loves

The one Jesus loves

Image: Flickr