THE PURSUIT OF INTIMACY
REV. EKOW ESHUN.
SCRIPTURE: II PETER 3:18 (NKJV)
”But continue to grow in grace and increase in God’s grace and intimacy with our Lord and savior Jesus Christ.”
The opportunity to grow means that we put in some work or effort to mature, develop, flourish, advance, increase and look more like Christ Jesus. This is what makes you look at your life and identify and build on the traits and things that give you progress and correct the others that trip you and hinder your general advancement.
We do not do this as a legalistic practice as was done under the law but as Peter said in the opening scripture ”in the grace” of our Lord Jesus Christ. Grace empowers us! The Spirit of Grace working in us helps us to metamorphose or change as we behold Christ in the Word (2 Cor 3:18)
Indeed, receiving Christ Jesus as Savior and Lord is only the beginning of our walk as Christ’s disciples. Thereafter, it is God’s desire that ”…we all come to the knowledge of the truth.” (I Timothy 2:4 NKJV) To come to the knowledge of the truth is a process that takes time. Let us remind ourselves about two things the scriptures say about this truth. In John 17, verse 17 (NKJV), our Lord Jesus said, ”sanctify them by your truth, your word is truth.” God’s Word is the truth by which He teaches, instructs, guides and shapes our lives to fit His will for us.
The second lesson to learn is that truth is a person. In John 14, verse 6, Christ Jesus boldly declared; ”I am the way the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father except through me.” (NKJV) For the disciple of Christ, real growth involves learning and applying the truth of God’s Word and also developing intimacy with Christ Jesus, the person, who is the living truth. Now, listen to Apostle Peter in today’s verse. He tells us to grow in grace and intimacy with our Lord Jesus Christ.
The word translated as “intimacy” in the NKJV and as knowledge in the KJV is the word ”epignosis” in the Greek New Testament. It means to have full discernment, a recognition, etc. It is the knowledge in which the knower relates to that which is known; it’s a knowledge that involves a relationship with the object of knowledge. It is a precise, accurate and correct understanding of what God has made you and what He has deposited in you through the Gospel.
Why is this matter of intimacy important? Without a passionate and continuing relationship with Christ Jesus, we cannot have an experiential knowledge and a strong testimony of Him. This requires that you respond to the passion in your spirit so that you can pursue, love and experience Jesus afresh. Many Christians are living on an old experience of the master. It’s like old bread rather than freshly baked bread. Their walk with Him is not strong, passionate and fresh anymore. As a result, their testimony of Christ Jesus today is not a fresh and living one.
What is wrong? Intimacy is missing. Why is it so? Because the disciple’s love for the master is gone cold. Is there a way out? Yes! As a first step, let’s repent and go back to the secret place of regular fellowship and prayer and spend time with Him in the Word beholding, meditating, acknowledging and consuming the Word.
PRAYER
Holy Father, I recognize that there is a desire in my heart to grow intimately with you in fellowship and to get deeper in my relationship with my Lord Jesus Christ. I recognize the desire in my spirit to know you more so that I can be empowered to be that instrument you want to use for your glory. Thank you for the stirrings of the indwelling Holy Spirit urging me to look away from all other distractions so I can focus on Christ Jesus only, especially in this new year. I bless you, Father, in Jesus’s name, Amen.
FURTHER READING (NKJV)
1 Peter 2:1-5
[1]Therefore, laying aside all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking,
[2]as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby,
[3]if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious.
[4]Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious,
[5]you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.