As a final thought on this topic for a while, let me include intimacy as critical for priestly living. I'm referring to both intimacy with God and intimacy with our brothers and sisters in Christ.
Of primary importance is our own relationship with God. By definition, priests to God are close to God. Priests offer daily sacrifices of themselves to their Creator and Savior as part of communing with him. God desires and demands intimacy with his children.
Secondary, but still critical, are our relationships with other believers. We show our love for God through how we interact with other Christians. As we look in the bible, we see an expectation that we, as priests, will have close relationships with other priests. There is much more scriptural support for having close relationships with other believers than non-believers. Of course we ought to be friends with both groups, but Christians are to be the priority.
Intimacy requires time. This may be the toughest part. In our ultra-busy society, we often don't have much time to spend with Christian friends. I know I suffer from this with having to work about 60 hours per week. Regardless of our situation, we must do the best we can.
I'm sure there are some believers who are intimate with God who have very few if any Christian friends. This could occur overseas or here in the USA. The general pattern, however, for Christians seems to be that God wants us to live out our intimacy with him by being intimate with Christian brothers and sisters.
As we think about being priests, let's not ignore intimacy.
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