Revealing Yourself To Promote Intimacy

Immediately when you read the title of this post you think “bang-chicka-bang-bang”! Intimacy is not a term reserved for sexual relations. The term gets a sexual connotation because western culture is very sensual and lewd. Admittedly, my title is suggestive. The word intimacy comes from the word, ‘intimate”. When you look at the noun form and the transitive verb form of the word “intimate,” it gives a good understanding of what intimacy is about. The noun form pertains to what is intrinsic to something or what is a part of the deepest nature of something. The transitive verb form refers to making something known or to announce or to hint. When you combine the two forms of the word intimate, you get a process of revealing what is intrinsic to your being and what is in your deepest nature. Intimacy is when two people reveal their true selves to one another.

The opposite of being intimate is being secretive or hiding your true self. One of the key signs of sincerity and goodwill is being open versus concealed. Both concealing truth and lying permeates darkness. As children of GOD, we should by nature be children of light. This means we should make things manifest, to bear witness to truth, for the understanding and edification of all. When you hide things about yourself due to fear, shame, or deceit, you create a barrier that blocks intimacy between you and those who would know you. There are many people who have been in relationships for years, including family and friends, where intimacy has hit barriers. These barriers limit the depth of the relationship. Consequently, there are problems with trust and communication and there are certain problems which keep recurring that seem insurmountable. Darkness makes the path to resolution difficult, if not impossible, to find. The scriptures say Our Heavenly Father seeks those who will worship Him in spirit and in truth, this is the only way to true fulfilling intimacy.

You can be physically intimate with someone while knowing little or nothing about them. While this can still provide you physical pleasure, it does nothing to strengthen or build up the persons involved. It’s like sharing a meal with someone and the meal has zero nutritional value. Many people today have diets filled with fast foods. The tendency is to settle for food based on taste instead of nutritional value.  Most fast food will satisfy your hunger but delivers hardly any of the nutrition needed to sustain life. This is a good analogy for understanding how mere physical intimacy is inadequate for fulfillment.

Spiritual intimacy affirms you as a person with value separate from your physical make up. It affirms your divine roots. Spiritual intimacy bestows a sense of true worth in you that empowers you to become one that affirms true worth in others. Spiritual intimacy breaks downs walls of shame and removes fear. Relationships that are based primarily on physicality aren’t as potent. Even family relationships, like parental or sibling, won’t be as fulfilling as they could be without a spiritual foundation.

I have been writing quite a bit on the topic of spiritual unity lately. It is because I see a lot of disunity in our world. I also see many relationships lacking true intimacy. The key to changing these conditions is to first answer the call to intimacy extended to us individually from GOD. Our Heavenly Father is revealing His true self to us through the testimony of Yeshua the Savior and through the revelation of His Holy Spirit. His hope is that we will develop intimacy with Him to be strengthened and fulfilled. Through our intimacy with GOD, we find the strength and liberty to have truly fulfilling relationships with one another.

There is a fire that comes to test everything we build, and only those things built on a spiritual foundation will endure. There is a scripture that says, “unless the Lord builds the house, the laborers labor in vain.” We are spiritual beings and we need that which is spiritual to be fulfilled. It is vain to allow ourselves to be ruled by physicality. Romans 8:6 says, “For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.”  The Word of GOD is spirit and life because it is the knowledge of Him. Begin to fill yourself with the knowledge of GOD and you will find the capacity to experience intimacy and fulfillment on levels that exceed your expectations.