If intimacy with Christ seems a distant reality, there may be a couple of possibilities as to why:
(1) You do not have God’s Word in your heart
(2) You are not obeying the Word of God.
“He who has My commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves Me; and he who loves Me shall be loved by My Father, and I will love him, and will disclose Myself to him.“ (John 14:21)
God calls us to simple, unequivocal obedience of His Word. Often, however in our ignorance or rebellion we:
- Don’t know what the Word of God says:
God to Adam: “from the tree… you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you shall surely die.“ (Genesis 2:17)
Eve to Satan: “God has said, ‘You shall not eat from it or touch it… “ (Genesis 3:3) Eve, after adding to God’s Word, soon succumbs to Satan’s seduction.
- Challenge the authority of the Word of God:
“And the serpent said (to Eve)… ‘You surely shall not die! For God knows that in the day you eat from it (the tree) your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.‘” (Genesis 3:4, 5)
- Water down the Word of God:
“Many peddle (and)… adulterate the Word of God… “ (2 Corinthians 2:17; 3:2)
- Twist the Word of God:
“The untaught and unstable distort (the Word of God)… to their own destruction.“ (2 Peter 3:16)
The intimacy with Christ we long for is based on a childlike understanding and response to the Word of God. Do we have the courage, faith, and will to seek out, discover, and obey the Word in this manner?
