Guest Post :: Risk and Intimacy

September 29, 2015

I’ve been walking with Jesus since I was a little girl, and it is by far the most wonderful, frustrating, romantic and terrifying relationship of my life. It breaks all social norms, ideas, and patterns. The grace part makes it wonderful, the faith part makes it adventurous, and the unknown often forces me to put God at arms length. I risk everything when I sit before the Lord. I become aware of how exposed I truly am and that I have no control over how he sees me. He simply sees me, all of me.

In human relationships there are levels of disclosure that both parties must engage in for the relationship to cultivate and become intimate. There’s the first level, consisting of physical characteristics and visible behaviors. The next level includes information like occupation, hobbies, or anything you could “Google” about a person. However, in order for the relationship to become deeper, more disclosure must take place where values, beliefs, and feelings are discussed.  Further, intimate and healthy relationships need reciprocity in order to grow. Both parties must continue to reveal information on similar levels as trust is established through time.

With God, things get a little messy because he doesn’t follow this relational model. Because he is our creator, he knows information about us at the deepest level of our being; including things we may not yet know about ourselves. Meanwhile we are still playing catch up on the names of Jesus’s friends and family.

As Christians, we discuss the sacrifices of following God, the hardships and possibility of persecution. However personally, I think the scariest thing of all is the vulnerability it takes to walk with Jesus everyday. Allowing the Lord to love me and take care of me knowing my sinful nature, and having the humility to risk being seen for who I am and the faith to know that I am accepted anyway.  Author ~ MW

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