“Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” Mt. 11:28-30
“Now it happened as they went that He entered a certain village; and a certain woman named Martha welcomed Him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus’ feet and heard His word. But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she approached Him and said, “Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore tell her to help me.” And Jesus answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.” Luke 10:38-42
“Then one of the Pharisees asked Him to eat with him. And He went to the Pharisee’s house, and sat down to eat. And behold, a woman in the city who was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at the table in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster flask of fragrant oil, and stood at His feet behind Him weeping; and she began to wash His feet with her tears, and wiped them with the hair of her head; and she kissed His feet and anointed them with the fragrant oil.” Luke 7:36-38
“My beloved spoke, and said to me: “Rise up, my love, my fair one,
And come away.” Song of Solomon 2:10
You may be quick to think of intimacy as referring to a sexual relationship, but TheFreeDictionary.com includes in its definitions of intimacy: “Characterized by close personal acquaintance or familiarity…Relating to or indicative of one’s deepest nature… Essential; innermost…Marked by informality and privacy…Very personal…” All the scriptures above convey the Lord Jesus Christ’s desire for His followers to not see Him as some far away, vastly distant, holier than thou Lord, but to humbly, thankfully, worshipfully, hungrily, thirstily, devotedly, committedly, eagerly, longingly, steadfastly sit at His feet, press up right beside Him, to intimately and unreservedly be loved by Him and love Him with a resolute pining to learn of Him, to learn from Him, to know Him ever more, to draw ever closer to Him and Him to us. The Lord honors those who seek Him like this, those who want Him and His nearness and His devotion in return more than anything else for He longs to fulfill our aching for Him as Lord, as Savior, as most beloved friend.
Intimacy not only misses its mark when we yearn for intimacy with the things and people of this world more than with the Lord, but also when we seek intimacy with things and people Christian more than we seek intimacy with Christ Himself. When our devotedness is more to church, Christians, pastors, Bible study groups, devotional books, Christian retreats, etc. than to the Lord Himself and study of His Word and application of it to our lives, do we not grieve the heart of God who longs for us to desire to be in His presence more than anything else?
Let us come away daily with the Lord and with His Word. May nothing matter more.