I have a different definition of intimacy than most of the world around me seems to have. My synonym for intimacy would be honesty. When people are truly intimate it means they hide nothing from each other. This may be in the form of physical intimacy meaning a couple does not have shame with each other. It could be emotional intimacy meaning a couple expresses their feelings openly. Cognitive intimacy would be the honest expression of thoughts and opinions. In the course of dating people move from a low level of intimacy (or honesty) to higher levels. On a first date words are guarded carefully, conversation tends to be shallow, and feelings are not generally expressed openly. In an attempt to make a good first impression a person might be just a little bit, well, fake. As time goes by guards are let down and opinions are expressed more freely. Feelings might be revealed more openly. Etc. In other words you let the real you show... you become more honest. I am setting the stage for this question, "How honest is your relationship with God?" Or, put differently, "How initmate is your relationship with God?" Here are a few questions to spur thinking:
Do you ever feel like you can't talk to God because of guilty feelings or for other reasons?
Are you ever ashamed of who God made you to be (including physical appearance)?
Are you emotionally expressive in your prayers to God?
Do you give God access to every part of your life?
Personally there are times when I feel like I can't talk to God. I don't always like what the mirror has to show me (is that another hair sprouting from my ear?). My prayers can easliy be quite bland and repetitive with no emotion. There are parts of my life that I do not always want God involved in (can't I just unload on that person who is frustrating me and bypass that golden rule stuff?). When I do these things I am robbing myself of intimacy with God.
2 comments:
I have to agree with your statement about the reasons you don't necessarily open up completely with God. So often, I already know what He would "say" and I don't want to hear it, for whatever reason.
Hmm... my first reaction to this comment is that God often surprises me by doing the unexpected. In fact, it is that aspect of God that makes Jesus so real to me. He often did visited the lowly, rebuked the "holy", and said the most random things. However, after a little thought and reflection on this comment I have to say that I have been there. For two reasons... first I have been there because I dreaded the judgmental voice. This voice was sometimes my own, sometimes the church, sometimes mom and dad, and sometimes it was God (and sometimes I didn't know at all). Second, I have been there because what I was reading in my Bible was not matching up with my life. I was not kind, compassionate, obedient, self-controlled, etc. And whatever was going on in my life I clung to more than I clung to God. I close this response with a big SIGH. I hope I have not made intimacy with God sound easier than it really is.
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