I have been fascinated lately by John, the beloved disciple. It all began when I started praying that I would crave Jesus like I crave oxygen. I long to be intimately connected with jesus on a minute to minute basis not just on certain times of the week or day.
One day I was praying and I got this picture in my mind of John the disciple leaning against Jesus’ chest. I love that picture now, but at first it made me really uncomfortable. See back in Jesus’ day, people reclined on the floor to eat dinner. They laid on their sides, raised up on one arm on pillows at a table that was only several inches off the floor. So, the verses in John that describe the dinner times with Jesus and the disciples are very intimate. THen the picture of John laying his head on Jesus’ chest, now that it close…it’s like spooning! Disturbing?? It was to me the first time I heard it. 
ok, now that you are over the initial disturbance, think about how close that is. Think about having your ear up to the chest of the Christ, hearing His heartbeat, hearing him breathe. What kind of man was John that he was so comfortable with such intimacy? What kind of man was so unabashedly in love with Jesus? NOt only in love with Jesus, but obviously completely aware of the love that Jesus had for him too! It was unhindered love and affection between the messiah and one of his beloved.
THis is the kind of unhindered love I want to have for Jesus. I want to love Him with my whole broken, human heart. I want to be completely consumed by the love He has for me. I want to see His eyes burning with Love for me! When we know that kind of Love, we are going to spill it out on those around us. That is the essence of what Christianity is….knowing the love of God and letting it flow through us on a broken world.
I want to burn with love for this God…. I want to burn with Love for His world.
Yay!! That’s awesome to hear!! I feel the same way. Have you done Beth Moore’s “The Beloved Disciple” bible study? It’s all about John and his relationship to Jesus – very, very good. I highly recommend it.
Thanks for stopping by! I have not done that study… I was thinking about it though! Thanks for recommending it.. I think I will consider that one!
Heather: This is so good. And so challenging. Really.
I echo that prayer – that desire to intimately have connectedness with Jesus.
Thank you for sharing this!
Mandy- thanks for reading! Believe me, it is challenging me to “death”…the death of fears and self! Good but still scary.
Wow this is we’ll written. For a while I was reading John and he writes so personable very different from Matthew and Luke. Example: Abide in me and I in you…
It’s sounds like poetry or a love song.
Thanks for sharing it’s awesome!!!!!
Thanks Lora! i love how poetic it is as well!
i never really stopped to consider this picture. puts it in a whole new light. yes, very intimate. weird to think about initially – but then, SO beautiful!!!
so well written too, Heather!
Have you ever heard Yearn by Shane and Shane? It reminds me of what youre talking about… “i wanna yearn for you, i wanna burn with passion, over you, and only you.”