What is Intimacy with God?

Ephesians 1:17

I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better.

Revelation 19:7

Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready.

In biblical language, knowledge of God is not simply to know about him, it is to know him. It is knowledge that comes through relationship, just like knowledge about a person grows through relationship with that person. Just like in a marriage.

The Bible often refers to the people of God as the “bride” of Jesus Christ. In marriage, we’re either growing in intimacy, we’re stagnating in intimacy, or we’re losing intimacy.  

When we’re growing in intimacy with our spouse, the relationship is good. It feels good. It feels empowering and stable and fulfilling. 

When we’re stagnating in intimacy with our spouse, it doesn’t feel like any of those things. It feels boring and unstable and unfulfilling. Stagnating intimacy leads to a decline in intimacy if it’s left unattended very long.

And when we’re losing intimacy, then all sorts of other emotions begin to come into play—bad ones. Offense, anger, rebellion, indifference.

The same is true in our intimacy with God. If our intimacy with God is growing, we feel stable, fulfilled, and empowered. If our intimacy with God is stagnant, we feel unstable, unfulfilled, and bored. And if we go very long in stagnated intimacy with God, then what we had will begin to decline—and we will find ourselves feeling offended, angry, rebellious, or, at the very least, completely indifferent.

We are the bride of Christ. If we’re not growing in intimacy with him, then we’re stagnating. Stagnancy with God is a crossroads. We can’t stay stagnant forever. Eventually we either start growing again or we decline.  

Oh Lord, thank you that we can know you intimately. Please help us to be purposeful about our relationship with you above all other things in our lives. Amen.