by Dan Eakin
There are different levels of closeness.
Sometimes we hear people criticize Peter for following Jesus afar off when Jesus was arrested.
But we should remember that for three years, Peter was in the inner circle with Jesus, along with James and John, a little closer to Jesus than the rest of the 12 disciples.
John may have been the closest to Jesus of them all. Remember, at the last supper, John was “leaning on Jesus’ breast.” John 13:23. But Peter was sitting right beside John and asked John to ask Jesus who would betray him.
Imagine how wonderful it must have been for John to have been so close to Jesus that he could hear his heart beat!
Today, many people want to be close to Jesus. But maybe not that close.
Zacchaeus would have been content to have only been close enough to Jesus to have watched him from a sycamore tree. What a thrill it must have been for him when Jesus told him he wanted to go to his house for dinner!
In my lifetime, I have had the privilege of seeing some great and famous people from afar off. I saw John F. Kennedy from afar off when he came to Texarkana campaigning in 1961. I saw Harry Truman from afar off when he made a speech at Texarkana College. I saw Elvis Presley from afar off when he did a concert in Fort Worth.
To me, it was an honor to have even seen them from afar off.
It must have been a great privilege and for those who saw Jesus, even from afar off.
I had the great privilege of sitting on a couch for about 30 minutes in 1971, talking with Billy Graham, the most famous evangelist of the 20th century. In the late 1990s, I had the great privilege of walking across a large park in Coppell near Dallas, chatting with George W. Bush. These two privileges were among the greatest honors of my life.
But to walk with Jesus! No, we can’t do that physically as the disciples did, but we can walk with Jesus spiritually if we so choose.
And we can choose at what level we want to walk with him.
Some Christians may choose to walk with Jesus occasionally, by going to church occasionally, by reading the Bible occasionally, by praying occasionally.
Others hopefully will choose to walk with Jesus on a daily basis, by reading the Bible every day, by praying every day, and then by going to church every Sunday.
Genesis 5:24: “Enoch walked with God.” Can you think of a better epitaph on a tombstone than that “He walked with God?” Or “She walked with God?”
How often do you walk with Jesus? Every day? Or do you just sort of follow him afar off?
The wonderful old hymn says, “When we walk with the Lord in the light of his Word, what a glory he sheds on our way! While we do his good will, he abides with us still, and with all who will trust and obey!”
Maybe our prayer should be: “Just a closer walk with thee, grant it Jesus, ‘tis my plea, daily walking close to thee, let it be, dear Lord, let it be.”
Jesus is willing to walk with us. But it is up to us to choose how close we will walk with him.
How close to Jesus do you want to be?
Dan Eakin is a native of DeQueen, Arkansas. He has been a practicing minister for more than 60 years.