Real Relationships

We met again on the afternoon of November 12 to hear from Norm Wakefield of Spirit of Elijah Ministries on the topic of relationships.  Again the presentation was tremendous, and was a fresh way to look at interpersonal relationships (via the interaction between Jesus and Peter {a.k.a. Simon).

Mr. Wakefield brought out the idea that Peter wrote his letters (1 Peter and 2 Peter) from his life experience, most especially the last few weeks he spent time with Jesus before His crucifixion.  From those experiences he was able to write to the early church members in difficult situations they were experiencing - see specifically 1 Peter chapter 2 and 3.

In a nutshell (so as not to repeat material that is available through the website link above, which I would strongly recommend) Peter's concept of relationship changed when he stopped seeing Jesus as Lord consummated by power and law and began to see Jesus as Lord consummated by love and experience.  In other words, not King and ruler by political rule but Shephard who saved His sheep by laying down His own life.

My mind has been all around this concept for weeks now and to be frank what has bothered me most is the issue of obedience and devotion to the commandments of God if all is love an experience.  I mean, if every relationship is all about love then won't that make Christians pushovers, ready to be bowled over since we can't really stand up to people we are supposed to love, right?  I mean if love dominates all relationships then we couldn't tell people they are doing something wrong, engaging in wrong behavior, etc.  We'd have to just let everyone do our own thing without making them feel bad by telling them they are living wrongly, right?  Actually, no.  If we really love our Lord and love other people then we will be compelled to live rightly ourselves, constantly aware of our actions so that we never behave (in thought, word or deed) in a way that would shame the Gospel or cause any other believer to stumble [in other words live an example].  We will also love others enought to point out wrongdoing, and here's the key, only from a motivation of desiring them to know the love of Christ in their lives and only as their lives do not align with clearly commanded and modeled biblical principles.  It is out of our love for our Lord that we identify and point out behavior inconsistent with biblical principles, so that we can share the message of love with others so they might be able to know the love of God in their own lives.

It's a different perspective, and I believe the correct one.  The key is motivation.  We as believers have probably not done ourselves any favors as we tried to take the short road and just proclaim that others are living wrong and on their way to Hell out of an attitude of pride and arrogance.  How much more effective would it be if we just thought constantly of what Christ Jesus has done for us, how much we love our Lord, and as a result live a life dedicated to showing how much we love Christ and love others by sharing the love of Christ and those same areas where their lives do not align with biblical principles because we want them to know the freedom, hope and joy that comes from looking for our fulfillment in Christ alone.  I have a feeling we would have some real and close relationships that honor the Lord.  And that is our purpose in life anyway, glorifying the Lord.  He is worth the effort.