When speaking about matters of faith, we Christians use (duh: what else?) the only language available to us. But using language to capture the reality of God is like trying to use numbered children’s blocks to teach quantum physics. It’s simply insufficient for the job.
By default, then, the language we employ to describe our relationship with Christ is precisely the same language we use to talk about our actual, human relationships. We say that we “walk” with Jesus, “talk” with Jesus, “spend time” with Jesus; Jesus is “beside” us; he “holds our hand,” and so on.
While all along, of course, we don’t literally do any of those things with Jesus.
Words we use to describe our everyday interactions and relationships take on entirely different meanings when employed to describe our religious experiences. And the difference between those two modes of usage—that sort of ongoing, purposeful cognizant disconnect—can unfortunately end up creating some real stress in the lives of believers.
So, about that. Don’t ever in the slightest way worry that you don’t really see, speak, talk, walk, go to the beach, or have lunch with Jesus. No one else does, either. People sometimes fall prey to the idea that they have to act as if the relationship they have with Jesus is every bit as real as the relationship they have with any other human they love, but that’s just a mistake they’re making. They’ve been … duped by language.
Don’t you be! Remember: No one ever gets feedback from Christ any more real, specific, or pointed than you do. Nobody on earth is holding hands with Christ. Nobody (sane) ever has actual conversations with Christ.
Until the time comes when you actually can communicate with Jesus in the same way you now communicate with, say, your mailman, you have within you the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the entirety of God and Christ. And the Holy Spirit communicates to you in a language that you, and only you, can understand. That’s the beautiful, precious, inviolate reality of your relationship with Christ. It’s between you, him, and nobody else.
Everything else is just talk.
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