Intimacy

For then you shall delight in the Almighty and you shall lift up your face toward God.  Job 22:26

Magnifying glasses are always a hit no matter what grade I teach.  There is just something fun about looking at something regular in a new way. Even ordinary things like paper clips and the human tongue can become fascinating when seen with magnified detail. In the spirit of close inspection, I have a thought for you today compliments of Deacon Ralph Poyo.  He was a presenter at the conference I attended last week and I could write a dozen posts with all the ideas he shared but today I have one word he explained in a whole new way.

The word is intimacy.  Most of us would define the word as extreme closeness and that would be correct but we don’t often think of it in a Godly way.  Deacon Ralph made sure everyone listening Wednesday night would think of it as a way to describe our relationship with God the Father.  He said intimacy means IN-TO-ME-SEE.  Talk about making a word come to life!  So, grab your magnifying glass and head down to the next paragraph and let’s see what we discover.

God desires intimacy with each of us so if we stand before God in prayer and accept his invitation to see in to him; what would we see?  I think we would see compassion, forgiveness, understanding, mercy, pride, delight and unfathomable love.  That’s what he’s made of and that’s what he shows us. When we see him we see truth, justice, and everything right; not judgment, punishment or shame. I think he wants us to see that we are made in his image so we should see the same things in ourselves that we see in him.  When was the last time you looked in the mirror and saw those things in your reflection?  If we are intimate with him, we will begin to mirror what’s in him.  I think the world could use a whole lot more of that image what do you think? He’s inviting us to see into him and loose ourselves in his goodness; he’s desperate for us to grow so close to him that we will move past things like guilt, shame, disappointment and greed.  Seeing him closely will make us long for nothing else.

If I imagine seeing the face of God I often imagine myself turning or bowing my head in the presence of his greatness but he loves us so much he’s inviting us to get closer…so close we can experience IN-TO-ME-SEE!

 A Seed To Plant: Write today’s word down the Deacon Ralph way and give it a lot of prayerful thought…let it draw you closer to the Father.

Blessings on your day!