Knowing and Being Known
Having recently moved, I've been working to form new friendships with my new acquaintances. Within the church, this means becoming friends with people who are already my sisters. One thing I've found awkward in the small group setting is that the intimacy shared may not be proportional to the intimacy of your actual relationship with the other person. We are sisters, but we are strangers. As sisters, we share about our hurts, habits, and hangups as we go through a curriculum, but we've also only known each other for a few weeks, seeing each other briefly on Sunday morning and having meetings on Wednesday night. Of course, the only way around this is to meet up outside of these times. Go out for coffee or lunch and just chat. To actually get to know one another and to be known by one another.
I think it's the same way with God. He's our Father, Savior, and Friend...but sometimes he might also be a stranger to us. None of this is his fault, but rather we hold back our lives or parts of our lives from him. And then we turn around and tell him about our hurts, habits, and hangups every so often. Some realize this disproportionality and simply stop communicating with God across the board, rationalizing that "He doesn't care about my small problems anyway." But my encouragement is to continue to go to God more. He has stood at the door of your heart and knocked, and you have allowed him to come in. He's already inside -- he already "abides" -- in the house of your soul. He extends his arm toward you as the vine, if only you as the branch would abide in you as well.
Meet him more often than Sunday mornings and Wednesday nights. Know Him and be known by Him.
I think it's the same way with God. He's our Father, Savior, and Friend...but sometimes he might also be a stranger to us. None of this is his fault, but rather we hold back our lives or parts of our lives from him. And then we turn around and tell him about our hurts, habits, and hangups every so often. Some realize this disproportionality and simply stop communicating with God across the board, rationalizing that "He doesn't care about my small problems anyway." But my encouragement is to continue to go to God more. He has stood at the door of your heart and knocked, and you have allowed him to come in. He's already inside -- he already "abides" -- in the house of your soul. He extends his arm toward you as the vine, if only you as the branch would abide in you as well.
Meet him more often than Sunday mornings and Wednesday nights. Know Him and be known by Him.
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