Intimacy With God and Man

God designed us for intimacy both with Him and with others. Intimacy and love are inextricably tied together. In order to foster true intimacy in a relationship, we must love. Without love, any attempt at intimacy will be unsuccessful, at best - painful and harmful, at worst. This is because of what intimacy requires.

Merriam-Webster defines being intimate as “having a very close relationship: very warm and friendly”. For me, and for the Christian community at-large, this definition falls WAY short (forgive my poor grammar Merriam-Webster) of what an intimate, godly relationship looks like. When talking about the intimacy that Christians can share with God and with one another, I prefer the Merriam-Webster definition of transparent: able to be seen through: easy to notice or understand: honest and open: not secretive: free from pretense or deceit. NOW THAT’S RICH!

Myra Boone, author of Touching the Hem of His Garment: A Guide to Encountering God, describes intimacy as the invitation of “In-to-me-see”.  I love that! This is a wonderful phrase to capture what intimacy is because it speaks to the transparency that intimacy requires.

I describe intimacy simply as “knowing and being known”. When we are in an intimate relationship, we seek to fully know the one with whom we have relationship and we intentionally allow ourselves to be fully known by them. This transparency means that we are willing to share our good, bad, and ugly with the person that the Lord has brought into our life for that purpose. It means that as we share, this person receives what we share – including the more difficult parts of our life - without expressing condemnation and without withdrawing their love from us. Instead, this person will welcome honest and open communication with love and warmth and will, in-turn share in the same manner. This person may offer wise counsel and even a word of correction when appropriate, and still, all this with love. This is exactly how the Lord relates to us and it is my assertion that He is able to bring people into our lives that can operate in that same manner. One caveat: we need not offer a word of counsel or correction to the Holy God – that would be an exercise in futility.  Further, He has no bad or ugly to disclose yet still accepts us in ours.

It is not the Father’s intention that we should go about this life in isolation but that we should exist in community with one another. In his devotion titled Meditation XVII, cleric John Donne wrote “No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main.” 17^th century words that are filled with God-inspired truth. We are designed to exist in community, and ideally, in loving, affirming, transparent, god-inspired relationships. So let’s explore this intimacy idea in two parts.

First, let’s look at God’s pursuit of relationship with man.

“You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you.”
John 15:16

“I will walk among you and be your God, and you will be My people.” Leviticus 26:12

“Come near to God and He will come near to you.” James 4:8a

“I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.”
John 15:15

“The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by Him we cry, “Abba, Father.”
Romans 8:15

“Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” John 15:13

“But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8

“I have loved you with an everlasting love” Jeremiah 31:3

“Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.” Revelation 3:20

God wants to be known by us. We are designed to desire relationship with Him.

“So the LORD spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend.” Exodus 33:11

“Seek the Lord and His strength; Seek His face evermore!” 1 Chronicles 16:11

“...if My people, who are called by My name, will humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” 2 Chronicles 7:14

“For the Lord is righteous, He loves justice; the upright will see His face.” Psalm 11:7

“And I—in righteousness I will see your face; when I awake, I will be satisfied with seeing your likeness.” Psalm 17:15

“When You said, “Seek My face,” My heart said to You, “Your face, Lord, I will seek.” Psalm 27:8

“Surely the righteous will praise your name, and the upright will live in your presence.”
Psalm 140:13

Over and over God talks about seeing or seeking His face.  Both the Old Testament and New Testament make reference to the face of God. Revealing the face is an indication of revealing oneself – allowing one’s self to be known. 2 Corinthians 3:18 says: “And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into His image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.” This means that when we are open to God (veil of ignorance removed by His word) we get to be in a position of intimacy with Him which changes us absolutely. As we grow in relationship with Him, we begin to reflect Him! This is the most wonderful and precious benefit to being in intimate relationship with our creator.

Ok, let’s pause here and tomorrow we will take a look at how God desires for us to relate to one another.




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Boone, M. (1999). Touching the Hem of His Garment: A Guide for Encountering God.