Intimacy
(Gracious - she has a beautiful name, I know - asked me what we talked about at church the other night...so here we go)
I had a very busy day on Monday (very much like today, I forced myself to sit and write this). Our helper is away for a week so I have her share of work to add onto mine. After cleaning this seemingly small house which miraculously extends itself once you hold a broom, I ironed, cooked and baked, and then I had to get ready for work (my day is the opposite way around, haha). There wasn't much time left for me to prep, in fact it was only a few minutes in between pans in the oven, and I felt guilty multi-tasking with the natural and divine. The scripture I was led to made it worse. I remembered something Jesse Duplantis once said, that the Word being a double-edged sword meant it strikes me the speaker as much as it does the listeners.
I opened up Matthew 7 and quickly read through it. My heart got caught up in verses 22-23.
"Many will say say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'"
The word that caught my attention was 'knew'. How could Jesus possibly say that he never knew people who achieved so much in his name? You have to have some kind of relationship with him if you are to achieve things through his name, right? Well another scripture dropped in my heart as I pondered on this word; Genesis 4:1 (KJV).
"And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bore Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the Lord."
This "knew" speaks of their sexual activity, yes, but it also speaks of the deep level at which they were intimate. Their laying (NIV) wasn't just about quenching their lust, but a bond formed between them. Not only was their bodily nakedness exposed to each other, but the nakedness of their thoughts, the nakedness of their true self. This is what makes man and wife one, the level at which they know each other.
During this intimacy, Eve conceived and later bore fruit. Back to Matthew; Earlier on in that chapter Jesus spoke about fruits, teaching that they exposed who a person was. The things that these people will cry out to Jesus about are fruit, but fruit not from intimacy with him, illegitimate fruit.
Jesus wants everything we produce to be a result of our intimacy with him. Our praying, our worshipping, our giving, our preaching. Nothing should be done out of obligation or tradition but everything should be birthed from relationship with him. This means I (and you) need to put in more effort into the amount of time I spend with God, I need to purposefully make time with him and let everything flow from that.
As I've said before, no relationship works out by accident, not even our relationship with God. I have to make decisions and stick to them, I have to want it, so he will know me as much as I claim I know him.
I had a very busy day on Monday (very much like today, I forced myself to sit and write this). Our helper is away for a week so I have her share of work to add onto mine. After cleaning this seemingly small house which miraculously extends itself once you hold a broom, I ironed, cooked and baked, and then I had to get ready for work (my day is the opposite way around, haha). There wasn't much time left for me to prep, in fact it was only a few minutes in between pans in the oven, and I felt guilty multi-tasking with the natural and divine. The scripture I was led to made it worse. I remembered something Jesse Duplantis once said, that the Word being a double-edged sword meant it strikes me the speaker as much as it does the listeners.
I opened up Matthew 7 and quickly read through it. My heart got caught up in verses 22-23.
"Many will say say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'"
The word that caught my attention was 'knew'. How could Jesus possibly say that he never knew people who achieved so much in his name? You have to have some kind of relationship with him if you are to achieve things through his name, right? Well another scripture dropped in my heart as I pondered on this word; Genesis 4:1 (KJV).
"And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bore Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the Lord."
This "knew" speaks of their sexual activity, yes, but it also speaks of the deep level at which they were intimate. Their laying (NIV) wasn't just about quenching their lust, but a bond formed between them. Not only was their bodily nakedness exposed to each other, but the nakedness of their thoughts, the nakedness of their true self. This is what makes man and wife one, the level at which they know each other.
During this intimacy, Eve conceived and later bore fruit. Back to Matthew; Earlier on in that chapter Jesus spoke about fruits, teaching that they exposed who a person was. The things that these people will cry out to Jesus about are fruit, but fruit not from intimacy with him, illegitimate fruit.
Jesus wants everything we produce to be a result of our intimacy with him. Our praying, our worshipping, our giving, our preaching. Nothing should be done out of obligation or tradition but everything should be birthed from relationship with him. This means I (and you) need to put in more effort into the amount of time I spend with God, I need to purposefully make time with him and let everything flow from that.
As I've said before, no relationship works out by accident, not even our relationship with God. I have to make decisions and stick to them, I have to want it, so he will know me as much as I claim I know him.
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