January 27

Written by Bill Grandi on January 27th, 2021

It occurred to me recently in a renewed way that an intimate relationship with God is a 2-way street. All I simply mean is that God desires an intimate relationship with us; we should desire an intimate relationship with Him.  In Philippians 3 Paul was giving a litany of his achievements: circumcised the 8th; a pure-blooded citizen of Israel; a member of the tribe of Benjamin; still spoke the Hebrew language; a member of the Pharisees, the most legalistic of the two groups of religious leaders; zealously protecting the faith by persecuting, imprisoning and killing Christians; and blameless according the Law. But what is important is that he counts it all as nothing (his word is dung)- worthless- because of what Christ has done. He eventually says words that stuck with me since I first read them with a listening heart: “I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised Him from the dead.” (Verse 10 from NLT).

I.   W.A.N.T.   T.O.   K.N.O.W.   C.H.R.I.S.T.

And contrary to the surface relationship many have settled for with Jesus, Paul’s words fly in the face of that. The word know in the Greek is actually the word which means to know deeply, intimately. Paul’s sole desire was to know and experience Jesus deep in his core. Far deeper than the Barney-type of love: “I love you, you love me.”

Here is what struck me as I said at the beginning: God also desires an intimate relationship with us. Let’s say we have a husband and wife and they are both clicking on the same page. Their love is deep and true. Intimate. Transparent. It is obvious they love each other. We also have a couple who are married in name only. They live in the same house but live two separate lives. Something is missing. Or how about the marriage where one is really hungering for an intimate (I’m not talking just physical) relationship but the other is passive? Which one would you want? I know the one I want!!

God desires an intimate relationship with me; I should desire an intimate relationship with Him. How about you? What do you want?

“Father, I want to know You, to desire You, to hunger for You. I know You desire that with me. Let’s make it a reality.”

 

 

8 Comments so far ↓

  1. Diane Ronzino says:

    Amen and Amen!

  2. Ed says:

    The old song “To know him is to love him” comes to mind. Totally wrapped up in Him!
    (new email address)

  3. Ryan S. says:

    I am not sure there is anything to add… Just I know that it is NEVER God that pulls away from the relationship.

  4. We shouldn’t want anything less than that intimate relationship with God, Bill. And it is definitely a two-way street.
    Blessings!