If you asked me about my wife, Mel, I could go on and on with details I love about her. I love the way she looks. I love the way she smiles. I love her laugh. I love the way she loves our daughters. I love the way she pours her heart out to so many. I love her cooking. I love her passion for God. I love the fact that after 21 years of marriage, my love for her continues to grow.
I wrote those words of love for my wife, my best friend, quickly. I didn’t have to do research on her. The loving words came quickly because—I know her. Our relationship is deep and rich. I don’t just know about her. I know her intimately. Did you know you can start knowing God like a friend, too? You can.
But so many of us struggle to maintain even a surface-only relationship with God. We might think of Him as the Big Guy in the Sky. We might know He has a Son named Jesus. Maybe we even ask Him for help now and then. But when our relationship with God stays distanced like that, it’s easy to continually convince ourselves He’s too big or too busy to care about us.
But God is the source of love. He’s not too big or too busy for us. He actually wants us to share our entire lives with Him. He doesn’t just want us to know a few facts about Him. He wants us to start truly knowing Him. He wants us to truly worship Him. The Bible says this: Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. John 4:23 NIV I need to know and love God intimately in the same way I know and love my wife intimately.
True worshipers worship God intimately because true worship builds intimacy.
But how do we know God like a friend? How do we become true worshipers? We live a life of worship—a life of constant communication with God. True worshipers worship intimately because true worship builds intimacy. So, when do we worship Him? At church when the band plays a song and everyone lifts their hands in worship? Yes. Is that it? No, that’s only part of it.
Worship Him when you wake up in the morning. Worship Him in the car on your way to work. Worship Him when you’re in school. Worship Him when you’re outside in nature, thanking Him for all the beautiful things you see. Worship Him when you look at your spouse. Worship Him when you see your kids playing. Worship Him in the good times. Worship Him in the waiting times. Worship Him in difficult times. Seek and worship Him daily, spending time with Him so that you can truly know Him.
David said this in Psalm 27:4 NIV, One thing I ask from the Lord, this only do I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple.
What steps can you take today to start knowing and worshiping God more intimately?