It's All About Relationships

"Jesus replied: 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and Prophets hang on these two commandments." Matthew 22:37-40 NIV

The greatest relationship we will ever have is with our Father. No other relationship should ever come before the intimacy we have committed to develop between us and our Creator. We have chosen to become His follower, and our complete being needs to be focused on total surrender to a love relationship with the Father. But we do not live on an island. Every day we are developing human relationships. As we consider the relationships we build in our earthly lives, we have to begin here -- "Love your neighbor as yourself." To be a commandment second only to loving God with your entire being states that how we handle relationships is a vital aspect of our social existence designed by our Creator. We cannot dismiss them and neither can we address them half-heartedly. Both reactions negate the importance God has placed on relationships.

This is a challenge for me. As an introvert, I am drained by people. Don't get me wrong; I love being with people. It's just that I must integrate "me" time into my day to recharge. That can tend to lean me towards selfishness. I will plan out my day to balance people time and recharge time. Unfortunately, the enemy will use this to his advantage and tempt me with an abundance of alone time to the detriment of time with people.When all is said and done, I am making life about my comfort rather than meeting other's needs.

Don't get me wrong; boundaries are not a bad thing. Balance is good as well. But when it is used as an excuse, it can become a hindrance to following the Father's commands.

So relationship-building requires selfless love for others. With the same intensity that I am protecting my personal time, I must love on others for I am to love my neighbor as myself. Obviously, I am loving myself all too well. I must work on loving others better.

But what does it mean to love others and who are our neighbors? I had a wonderful step-dad. Raymond loved everyone. There wasn't a person he would meet that he did not thoroughly cherish. And since he was a man who lived in the "now" in everything he did, he would take time for anyone, anytime, anywhere. I never knew someone who could make genuine friends of their co-workers and the mailman. He simply oozed time for one-on-one conversation. I say conversation, but his "conversations" consisted of asking a question and listening to the other person's answer with complete rapt attention. And then his entire body would reflect the emotion most empathetic with the speaker. If they were recounting something joyful, Ray was joyful. If they were sad, Ray was sad with them. If angry, he provided calm. If frightened, he gave safety. His entire focus was on other people and their needs -- any person his life came in contact with.

A week after Ray passed away, there was a knock on my mom's door. There stood a twenty-something girl holding a potted flower. "I just heard that Mr. Wells passed away," she said. "I had to find out where he lived and come to tell you how sorry I am and how much I will miss him." The young woman was the check-out girl where he bought his groceries.

That must be how Jesus walked on the earth -- completely focused on others. Attentive. Sympathetic. Helpful. Listening. Responding. Empathetic. Compassionate. With a selfless love.

Further Thoughts:

1. If I am to love others as myself, in what ways do I love myself?
2. List the ways Jesus showed love to others.
3. How did Jesus find balance between his own needs and meeting the needs of others?
4. What is hindering me from loving others like Jesus did?
5. What is one change I need to make today to better love those around me?

Lord, forgive me for my selfish ways. Show me today how to love better. Open my eyes to other's needs. Open my ears to their heart's cry. Teach me to love Your kids as You love Your kids.

Hebrews 3:1-6 "The Faithful One"

Read Hebrews 3:1-6.

"But Christ is faithful as a son over God's house." NIV

Here Jesus is called an "apostle." The word apostle means "one who is sent." God, the Father, sent Jesus, the Son, to earth to redeem His people. Then the author compares Jesus to Moses in this respect. Just as Moses was sent out to lead the Hebrew people out of slavery in Egypt, so Jesus is sent to lead the people out of slavery to sin.

Jesus stands firm, faithfully still leading God's creation out of an eternity of damnation to an eternity with God. Even when we stray, He is "faithful" over God's house, the believers. So often we act as the Hebrew people did and wander away from Christ, but He never leaves us. He faithfully waits patiently for our return. What sorrow and grief He must suffer in the waiting. As if the suffering He already did for us on the cross was not enough, we become selfish and seek our own paths. But He waits ..... with arms open wide for His bride to return. Such patience with such fallible beings. Why? Why doesn't He just wipe us all off the face of the earth and say, "Enough of this foolishness!"

Because He is love. And His amazing love outweighs and out-waits any sin we can commit. All we need to do is "hold on to our courage and the hope of which we boast." The Son is watching.

Further Thoughts:

1. Do you have trouble believing that Jesus still loves you even in all of your messed-up-ness? Why?
2. What is the difference between being "messed up" and walking away from God or rebellion?
3. What does Scripture mean by "the narrow path?" How is the width of the path determined? (support with Scripture)
4. Read the book of Hosea. It's short, and it gives a great illustration of the way Jesus waits for us.
5. Spends some time today analyzing if you are on the narrow path or not. What are your intentions as a Christ-follower? Fire insurance or total surrender? God knows your heart, so you can't hide your intentions from Him. But sometimes, I think we hide our intentions from ourselves. It's time to be honest.
   

Matthew 27:27-44

Read Matthew 27:27-44.

"Those who passed by hurled insults at him...." NIV

The flogging, the mockery, crown of thorns and taunts. He endured them all silently. Did He ever want to call down the armies of heaven and command the natural forces of the earth to take revenge on these ignorant people? Did He want to destroy them with a single word? Did God have to look away or could He? The same people that were tormenting Jesus were the ones He was sacrificing for. Could they not see that? Did they ever taunt and torment the lamb they had layed on the altar of sacrifice? Do they not see the tremendous gift of grace and mercy He is giving them? Do we?

My heart is grieved over the blindness that sin brings on humanity. And we've allowed it to happen.

Lord, open the eyes of man to see Your sacrifice in all it's horrendousness and beauty.

Further Thoughts:

1. Imagine the punishment you should have received for your sins. Then take some time today thanking Him for His sacrifice.

Matthew 10:40-42 "Ambassadors for Christ"

Read Matthew 10:40-42.

"He who receives you receives me, and he who receives me receives the one who sent me." NIV

This passage had me thrown for a loop. I could understand verse 40 and 42, but throwing 41 into the mix confused me. Even looking at the passage as a whole invokes different takes from different commentators.

So here is what I see overall being said. Jesus has just told the disciples that He is throwing them to the wolves and to basically expect the worst. But to send them off, in this passage Jesus encourages them that there will be help and those who help them will be rewarded. The reverse of that is that those who don't help them -- such as all those that rejected them, will not be rewarded for they have rejected Christ.

My take away from this passage is two-fold:

• I must take care of Christ's disciples because by doing so I am taking care of Christ.
• When others reject my message of the gospel, they are not rejecting me, but the One who sent me.

First of all, by receiving Christ's ambassadors, I am receiving Him. I have an opportunity to minister to Christ Himself by caring for His ministers. What a privilege that is and a responsibility. Christ has chosen us as His own, and His Spirit lives within us. Therefore, a disciple of Christ, which each of us should be, should be cared for by other disciples and those that recognize the Spirit of Christ within us.

Secondly, as a believer, I am to be completely sold out as a servant of Christ. It is not about me anymore, but about Him. I don't strive to be in the limelight, but to headline Christ so that others will be drawn to Him. My surrender to His ways makes me a walking ambassador for Christ. Therefore, those who receive me receive Him. So the contrary must be true, that those who reject me are rejecting Him who sent me. It's not about me, it's about Him who sent me, and my ego should not be wrapped up in the acceptance or rejection for neither of them are about me. I am merely a conduit of His love and gifts.

Lord, guide me to care with love for those who are Your disciples. Help me to love with Your love. And use me Lord as Your disciple, Your ambassador, to reach a hurting world. Help me to show them the way to You.

Further Thoughts:

1. Are you afraid to go out as Christ's disciple? Fear is not of God. That would be the enemy's device to stop you from sharing Christ's love with others. Take some time today to search the Scriptures for passages on fear and ask the Lord to remove that from you.
2. As disciples, what are we to do when our message is not accepted? Read Matthew 10:14, 19-20.
3. If you struggle with rejection as a disciple of Christ, you may be dealing with a surrender issue. It's really not about you, but about the One who sent you. Research Scripture on surrender and read associated posts. (See labels below for "surrender.") Ask the Lord to empty you of your ego and fill you more with Him. He's really what your life is all about, and you cannot do it without Him.

Matthew 9:9-13 "Not Good Enough"

Read Matthew 9:9-13.

“It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.” NIV

I don’t know how many times I have heard, “But I’m not good enough to receive Jesus into my heart.” Well, here’s a great passage to show that Jesus isn’t looking for “the good.” In fact, that would be a futile search for there is no one that is good. We are all born with a sinful nature; we all fall into temptation. It’s just that some have run from God for longer so they may carry more visible scars of their rebellion. But even the greatest saint has sinned and though their scars may not be visible, they will carry them forever on the inside.

Jesus strongly declares that he came for the sinners, not the righteous. I love the saying I’ve heard my husband say many times – Jesus doesn’t clean his fish before he catches them. The clean up part of our lives will usually come gradually. Some make a dramatic and radical change in their life overnight. But I don’t believe that is the norm – at least not in the American culture. And the change can’t be out of just following the “Christian rules” so you can remain a Christian and still get to heaven. That is a common misconception. True and lasting change comes from a love for God and surrender to Him as Master and Lord. If you truly love someone, and I mean that I-will-give-you-my-all kind of love, you will do for them anything they ask, just because you love them. That’s how Christians grow – we learn more and more about Christ and His love for us and as we do, we are compelled out of love to serve Him and to live as much like Him as possible.

I was watching a vocal training DVD yesterday and one of the exercises he prescribed is listening to an artist you admire and would like to sound like. You listen to their song with the song sheet in front of you and mark up the music to note where they have vibrato and where they sing straight; where they breathe. You underline the words where they bend the pitch. By studying their patterns, you learn their style. Then you record yourself singing the song and compare the two. If you don’t do a part of the style the same as they do, you start over working on that area until you are imitating them.

A Christian grows in much of the same way. We read God’s Word, study Christ’s life, absorb His love for people, listen to the guidance of His Spirit – and through that become more like Him. Did we start out that way? Absolutely not! He takes us with all our bad notes and faulty breathing and annoying vibrato. Then we grow and change as we allow Him to mold us into His likeness. And He can do that for anyone who is willing to surrender to Him and receive His gift of grace and the presence of His Holy Spirit.

The vocal trainer said that it is not the goal to be just like the musician you admire, but to learn from their expertise by imitating their style. That’s where the analogy breaks down. I want to be just like Christ.

Further Thoughts:

1. Do you think you are too far gone to follow Christ, or better said, for Christ to accept you? In Jesus' day, tax collectors were right down there with the scum of the earth. They were thought of as traitors because they worked for the Romans and were corrupt. Not only did Christ forgive Matthew of His sins, but He drew him into His personal circle of twelve. Jesus demonstrated an example of complete acceptance. He loves you and desires to have a relationship with you. Will you accept His gift?
2. Have you been hanging out with any “tax collectors and sinners” lately? Christ does not call us to sit back in our cushy pews beside our loving brothers and hang out. He calls us to go out to reach others. But we can’t do that if we are cloistered away. Read Matthew 28:19-20 and Mark 1:16-18.
3. Jesus tells the Pharisees in vs. 13: “I desire mercy, not sacrifice.” Jesus is quoting Hosea 6:6. Read the chapter and as He told the Pharisees, figure out what it means. How does it relate to serving and living out of love rather than duty? What was Israel’s downfall?
4. Find Scriptures that say we are to be like Christ. Start with Ephesians 5:1-2.
5. What is our primary way to love Him? Support with Scripture. Read 1 John 3:11-24.
6. Spend time today just loving the Lord – with words, with actions, in song, in thoughts….