Intimacy With Jesus

Intimacy with Jesus, if you are like me and most Christians, that is your goal.  We all, at least say we want intimacy and a close relationship with Him.  But what do we have to offer Jesus?  He is like the person at Christmas who already has everything, because He does.  What do we have that Jesus could need?  We all want to give and help those we love.  How can we “help” the One who “existed in the beginning with God.  God created everything through Him, and nothing was created except through Him.” (John 1:2-3)  See, He created it all, so he has no need of anything we could offer.

Let’s look at a story Mark tells us about Jesus in Mark 7.  You see Jesus was once again in a crowd.  He was popular, not because people were seeking to help Him, but because He could help them.  This was another of those days.  We will pick up the story in verses 32-35.  “A deaf man with a speech impediment was brought to Him, and the people begged Jesus to lay His hands on the man to heal him.  Jesus led him away from the crowd so they could be alone. He put His fingers into the man’s ears. Then, spitting on His own fingers, he touched the man’s tongue.  Looking up to heaven, He sighed and said, “Ephphatha,” which means, “Be opened!”  Instantly the man could hear perfectly, and his tongue was freed so he could speak plainly!”

When we look more deeply into this story, the man a deaf man hadn’t heard the teachings of Jesus.  He couldn’t have been telling others of Jesus as a mute.  This man had nothing to offer Jesus, and it was his friends who brought him there.  It seems if there was one Jesus might just skip over, this was the one, but He didn’t.  Look at what Jesus did.  He got totally intimate with the man.  He took him aside so they could be alone.  He put His hands around this man’s face and placed His fingers in his ears.  He got personal with him and healed him.  Jesus had just taken someone the world probably thought was useless and, through an intimate moment with him, turned him into someone He could use for His glory.

Jesus wants that with each one of us.  He already knows we aren’t worthy and can’t really give him anything He doesn’t already have.  What Jesus wants is just that intimate relationship with you and me.  Jesus knows our hurts and our problems and loves us anyway.  Don’t worry about what you have to offer Jesus.  He will find it and turn it into something He can use for His glory just like He did with the man in our story.

Do you want to give Jesus the ultimate gift, how about giving him yourself.  That’s what He’s been wanting all this time.  He wants to put His hands around your face and begin to have that intimate relationship that will transform your life into something oh so special.  Just get away from the crowd to a place you can be alone with Jesus.  He will take it from there.

God Bless!