I have found someone to converse with that presents some pretty interesting questions. Today the question was posed on the likeness or difference of connection vs union. The following was my response.

I can be connected to someone, but not know them. It can be through work, or where we attend church. There is any number of ways we can say we know someone. Working relationships and such doesn’t give you insight into the person’s innermost thoughts.

The only way to really know someone comes when two people let down their guard and expose their feeling, beliefs, and foils that prevents them from moving forward as well as their strengths that moves them forward. My wife and I share EVERYTHING. She knows my deepest regrets as well as my triumphs. She knows what is and was under every stone in my life. I can likewise be connected to God, although He knows everything about me. I or you can choose to not open ourselves up to Him. He respects us in doing so, yet will test us to bring us to maturity where we become more open to Him. Then in our maturity, we will be union with Him from that openness.

The distance between connected and union is maturity. It’s a season of growth. At the beginning of our walk with God, we become connected through salvation, but the union comes from a constant daily awareness, communication, and walk, if you will, with Him.