Intimacy with God- Not a Metaphor

11 January 2026  Acts 10:34-38

“Truly I believe that God shows no partiality….” (Acts 10:34)

The Holy Spirit did not wait for Peter to finish his little homily: “While Peter was still saying this, the Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the word…. The gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles. For they heard them speaking in tongues and extolling God” (Acts 10:44-45).

You’re not dreaming. God really is that close, His fingertips practically touching your own, His own gifts, His own life awaiting the merest stretch of your fingers toward His. You have only your fear to lose, and the life of Heaven to gain.

Speaking in tongues is regarded by some as a kind of spiritual freak show, but it is a real, no-doubt-about-it New Testament kind of event, and it is scorned at considerable spiritual peril.

The Apostolic Church regarded it as a clear and convincing  sign of the Holy Spirit’s presence, in this case more convincing even than Peter’s preaching. Peter himself said, after hearing the Gentiles of Cornelius’ household speak in the language of angels before God, that they had no choice but to baptize these new believers at once (cf. Acts 10:47).

The teaching of the Church is that in baptism we receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, which is to say we become included in the relationship between God the Father, and God the Son, which is to say we become part of the inner life of God. God doesn’t think about Himself without also thinking of us, and God doesn’t think about us without also thinking of Himself. In the Holy Spirit we have intimacy so deep and complete that we have access to the very mind and heart of God. In some people that intimacy is expressed in the ability to speak the language of deepest intimacy, which is what the Bible calls “speaking in tongues.”

But that is not the only spiritual gift. The Bible speaks also of the spiritual gift of prophecy, which refers to, among other things, the ability to translate the language of angels into language that we can understand in the languages of earth, and proclaim the intentions of God for our time and place. There is also the spiritual gift of teaching, by which people come to understand the many ways in which God has already spoken in Holy Scripture, history, philosophy, science and art. There is the gift of hospitality, by which people help others to feel welcome in God’s household. There are also gifts of healing, mercy, service, and others: “There are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit” (I Corinthians 12:4, see also Romans 12). And all those gifts are given by the same Holy Spirit that we receive when we are baptized.

God wasn’t kidding when he said through the prophet, “Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and his name shall be called Emmanuel (which means God With Us)” (Matthew 1:23, see also Isaiah 7:14). God promised – and delivered – an intimacy so complete that we are included in God’s own inner life. It isn’t a metaphor – in fact, thinking that it is a metaphor is what keeps many people from grasping the gifts of the Spirit that God is continually trying to give us.

You’re not dreaming. God really is that close, His fingertips practically touching your own, His own gifts, His own life awaiting the merest stretch of your fingers toward His. You have only your fear to lose, and the life of Heaven to gain. Reach just a little, and you’ll see.