God is a God of Holy Intimacy
Intimacy between believers is a somewhat taboo subject. When some think of intimacy they automatically think about sex. Others restrict it to within certain rigorously defined limits. Married people can be intimate. Parents have a certain degree of intimacy with their children through hugging, kissing, and care giving. Family members also have a degree of intimacy with each other depending on their relationship. For all others intimacy is severely restricted.
People are the ones who restrict intimacy
The church restricts intimacy even more severely. Depending on which denomination you attend, even a hug between sexes may be inappropriate. In some churches, young people who date are advised to keep 6 inches apart at all times.
Leaders tell us that all these rules and precepts protect us. If we obey these strict guidelines we will protect ourselves from temptation and avoid the appearance of evil. However, have all these traditions of men protected us from sin or have they simply separated us from each other and holy intimacy?
Intimacy in the Garden of Eden
If we think about the time before sin, when everything was perfect and good, what would intimacy look like? If Adam and Eve had never fallen into temptation, how would the human race interact with one another?
First of all, everyone would be less body-conscious. If you were a young man how would you hug your great-grandmother Eve who still looked as beautiful as the day she was created? Would you give her a full frontal hug, allowing her breasts to press up against your chest? Would it matter if you did?
We really do not understand God’s original plan
People assumed that when God brought Eve to Adam He instituted marriage much as we practice it today. However, I think we assume too much. No one knows how their relationship would have evolved over time had they not eaten of the forbidden fruit. We often times forget that our rules and sensibilities in this tainted creation do not necessarily apply to the time before sin.
As God begins to bring us back to the Garden, through yielding to His Holy Spirit, we regain our innocence in Him. As we begin to live by revelation, allowing God to lead and guide us in all things, man’s rules and regulations diminish. The scriptures tell us to greet one another with a holy kiss. Paul speaks about love feasts. What do these scriptures actually mean?
Our Father is about to restore holy intimacy to His people
We are entering into a time of holy intimacy. This intimacy will occur between men and women whether they are married or not. As God brings us together we will act in ways that, to the natural man, may appear inappropriate or even sinful . People may say, “Well, what does her husband think about that!” or “If you hug someone like that you may sin!” or “you should not do that because you must avoid the appearance of evil.”
Do we dare great one another with a holy kiss?
The fact is, though, when you kiss someone with a holy kiss, even deeply and passionately, there is nothing inappropriate about it. If God directs you to kiss a man or woman, whether married or not, it is His decision. God calls some to die as martyrs, so why do we question His sovereignty if our bodies get too close?
God is obviously not a prude, however, many Christians are. Whereas God created us naked and unashamed, most Bible believing people cover themselves strenuously. I have experienced Holy Kissing and contrary to what natural minded people may expect, no matter how intimate the kiss is, it is a display of affection and not sexual desire. When God leads you kiss another believer it is an expression of love and tenderness.
Holy intimacy is Spirit lead
This, in fact, is how God intended all intimacy between human’s to take place: through His Spirit. God wanted intimate involvement in what we did and who we did it with from the beginning. Spirit led intimacy has only one line; the line that God sets.
Holy intimacy is simply a by-product of Divine Love. God created everyone, therefore he knows everyone intimately. YHWH also said that man, his last creation, was “very good”. Therefore, if God wants to express His heart and mind who are we to say it is not good or proper? If God wants to kiss, hug, or love us intimately through each other isn’t that His right? Loving each other, however intimately, is proper and holy because God is holy. In other words, when God loves through us, what we do is, by definition, pure.
Holy intimacy makes us vulnerable
Holy intimacy is about vulnerability. As God leads us closer to one another through His Spirit we open up and trust our spiritual connections. As we open up to people we also open up to God and His Spirit flows between us freely. Many believers hide deep-seated problems which God uncovers and deals with through our vulnerability and trust.
Holy intimacy is a foretaste of the world to come
Holy intimacy is a foretaste of the world to come. As we cross over to the New Creation, through the Holy Spirit, we begin to take on the attributes and attitudes of that place. Spiritual connections, therefore, act differently than natural minded people who are still in this world. Truly, we act like strangers in this strange land. Just as
In conclusion, we have a lot to look forward to both in this world and the next. God is about to give us true holy intimacy throughout the Body of Christ. We will become one with Him and each other in ways we can’t imagine yet. Unity will flow from holy intimacy borne out of true love from above. The day fast approaches when the world will know we are Christians by our love one for another. Amen.
