A new movie has come out in time for Valentine’s Day
but it is not a movie that promotes healthy wholesome or intimate
relationships. The movie “50 Shades of
Gray” depicts relationships between men and women in degrading ways according
to those who have read the book or seen the movie.
Wikipedia wrote: Fifty Shades of Grey has topped best-seller
lists around the world, including those of the United Kingdom and the United
States.[5][6] The series has sold over 100 million copies worldwide and been
translated into 52 languages,[7] and set a record in the United Kingdom as the
fastest-selling paperback of all time.
It is a sad statement about the moral condition of our
culture and an insult to all who understand what God desires between men and
women. We have lost the true meaning of
intimacy and have replaced it with carnal attractions and fleshly exploitation
of the opposite sex.
Valentine’s Day has an interesting history that a
friend of mine sent me this past week.
Saint Valentine was a 14th century Roman Catholic
priest. His emperor had forbidden marriages, because they felt married men made
worse soldiers in a time of war. So living together without a marriage covenant
was common, and so was polygamy. St. Valentine believed God's plan of covenant
marriage for one man and one woman was the best model. So he would secretly
marry couples. For breaking this law, he was arrested, jailed and ended up
suffering a triple martyrdom - beating, torture and decapitation. Legend says
one of his judges had a daughter who was blind. Valentine prayed for her and
she was healed. His last letter from jail was to her, and he signed it...
..."from your Valentine".
God desires us
God created us for intimacy in our relationship with
him first and in our relationship with each other. He created us with the capacity and ability
to have an intimate relationship with him.
But what is intimacy, how do we define it so we can understand if we
really are experiencing it?
The dictionary defines it as: a close familiar and
affectionate personal relationship; a
close association with a deep understanding of a place subject, etc. A sexual
relationship.
God created man to have a close personal relationship
with him. At its foundation is God’s covenant
love for mankind. He created man not out
of a need he had but a love that he could share with someone who he created
with the capacity to both give and receive love. John the apostle of love stated,
1 John 4.19 We love because he first loved us.
God gave man the same nature of love he has to man.
With the ability to love comes the ability to become intimate with God and with
another person. God wants to be personal
with us. He wants to share his love with
us and receive love back from us. The
natural consequence of being loved is that you desire to be with the person who
loves you. The love God had for Adam and Eve provided the security they needed
to be in a relationship with God. Adam
came to know God through his encounters with him through his creation but also
in his conversations with God.
God desires intimacy with us. He is not a God who stands away and does not
want to be involved in our lives as Deists believe. He is a person with
characteristics like us. He has feelings, emotions, desires, thoughts, and the
ability to communicate with us. His conversations with Adam must have been an
amazing time of learning for Adam. He
came to him in the cool of the evening to have a time of fellowship with
Adam. We can only speculate what was
involved in the conversation between them.
When we look at examples of people in the Bible who had close
relationships with God we see that God was the initiator. It was his desire to reveal himself and have
a personal relationship. God sought out
Abraham, Moses, Joshua, Samuel, David, by choosing them, speaking to them and
calling them into an intimate relationship with him. Intimacy is initiated by God, it is his
desire to relate to each one of us in a deep and personal way.
God invites us
He not only desires an intimate friendship with us but
he invites us into the relationship. In
our human relationships a similar process happens. We begin with a desire to know someone
because there is an attraction to them.
But unless an invitation is given to have that person join you for an
activity where conversation can occur you will never be able to have knowledge
of the person that can lead to a deep and personal relationship. As humans we understand that there is a risk
of rejection by the other person. We may
want to know them better but the feeling may not be mutual and they may say no
to our invitation. But if the invitation
is accepted then the door is open to at least pursue a close relationship with
the person. God extends the invitation
to all of us to be in an intimate relationship with him. To know him for who he truly is and not as
others may have stereotyped him to be. He
invited Moses to spend 40 days on Mount Sinai to understand how he wanted to
relate to the people and the people to relate to him. Moses had an intimate relationship with God
and was known as one who spoke to God as a friend.
11 Thus the LORD used to speak to Moses face to
face, as one speaks to a friend. (Ex 33:11).
God described himself to Moses when he passed before
him.
6 The LORD passed before him, and
proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and
faithfulness, 7 keeping steadfast love for the thousandth
generation, forgiving iniquity and
transgression and sin, yet by no
means clearing the guilty, but
visiting the iniquity of the parents
upon the children and the
children’s children, to the third and
the fourth generation. (Ex 34:6–7).
The book of Song of Songs is a description of two
people in love but it is also a description of God’s desire and invitation to
each one of us.
My beloved speaks and says to me: “Arise,
my love, my fair one, and come away; (So 2:10).
God is our lover, he wants to take us away just as a
one who loves desires to be alone with just the person he or she loves. Human love and its desires is like God’s love
and desires for each one of us. He
invites us to come away with him.
In his relationship with Israel he invited them to
come to him and reason or argue with him so that their relationship could be
restored. It was an invitation to have a
conversation with him so that the problems between them could be resolved.
8 Come now, let us argue it out, says the LORD: though your sins are like
scarlet, they shall be like snow;
though they are red like crimson,
they shall become like wool. (Is 1:18).
Jesus invited his disciples to come and follow him to
be a part of his ministry.
19 And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will
make you fish for people.” 20 Immediately they left their nets and
followed him (Mt 4:19–20).
Zacchaeus was a tax collector who responded to Jesus’
request to meet him at his house. Luke
19.5
Jesus extended the invitation to all who were weary
and heavy laden with the burdens of the law to come to him and learn of him and
he would give them rest. Matthew 11.28
28 “Come to me, all you that are weary and are
carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon
you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find
rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
The invitation to intimacy is extended to each one of
us and we have the choice daily whether we will accept it or ignore it.
God Waits for us
Not only is God desiring intimacy and extending the
invitation to intimacy but he patiently waits for us to respond. He does not force a relationship upon us. As
we respond to draw near to him, he promises to draw near to us.
James 4. 8 Draw near to God, and he will draw
near to you.
The church in Laodicea had grown lukewarm. They thought they had it all together but
Jesus said they were in a condition that was not pleasing to him. Yet his desire was to be connected with
them. And he called them to
repentance. He invited them to respond
to him as he knocked on the door. He
waited for them to open it and allow him in so he could have fellowship with
them.
Revelation 3.20 20 Listen!
I am standing at the door, knocking; if you hear my voice and open the door, I
will come in to you and eat with you, and you with me.
He waits for us to
respond to his invitation. One day I had
an image of how God looks at each one of us and desires our fellowship as I
viewed my baby daughter sleeping in her crib.
I stood beside her bed and waited until she woke up to be able to pick
her up and hold her. I pictured Jesus waiting at the foot of my bed, watching
me as I slept and waiting for me to awaken so he could have a conversation with
me. We serve a God who enjoys our
fellowship with him. He wants to spend
time with us and communicate to us.
One of the
disciplines of our lives is spending time each day with the Lord through his
Word, prayer, meditation and reflection. Life gets very busy for most of us,
the demands of ministry and work are calling us from the moment we wake up
until we go to sleep. Jesus experienced this as he ministry began to draw many
people who literally pressed in on him.
He had to get away.
15 But now
more than ever the word about Jesus spread abroad; many crowds would gather to
hear him and to be cured of their diseases. 16 But he would withdraw to
deserted places and pray. (Lk 5:14–16).
Carving out time
in our day to sit in the presence of the Lord is critical to all that we do. Do
whatever it takes to make your appointment with the Lord each day. Make it a
habit in your life and protect that time from being stolen or interrupted by
things that are not as important.
Throughout the day imagine that he is right beside you ready to converse
with you. He desires our fellowship, he invites us to be with him and he
patiently waits for us to be with him.
We can be as intimate with God as we want to be.
We can be
ourselves with him, he knows us better than we know ourselves. Our fears, anxieties, our disappointments,
our troubles, our sins, our hopes and dreams are all known by him and he cares
about everything that affects us each day.
He wants us to share these things with him and he will respond to help
us in every situation.
Tonight you may be
here and you feel far from God. You have
allowed business to steal your time or maybe you have strayed from the path and
need to get back on track with the Lord.
He is a God who always desires our fellowship, always extends the
invitation to intimacy and patiently waits for our response. Take the time now to return to him so you can
once again experience his love and close relationship he wants with you.
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