For the next 40 days I am going to use the daily readings from Tom Holladay's book, The Relationship Principles of Jesus, as my daily devotional. This will be instead of my daily reading in the Life Journal.
As we embark on this 40 day journey I want to share my thoughts on the readings with you. This journey has the potential to change you forever. We live in a world of screwed up relationships and any help we can get can certainly have a major impact on our lives. I appreciate that we are not being told to "just try harder" but rather will be given handles to hang on to as we move toward loving others as Jesus would have us love them. That is a tall order but the Lord offers to empower us to do what he asks and to experience all he has for us. It will be a great journey so let's get started.
Day One - Nothing Is More Important Than Relationships
30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.'
31 The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these."
Mark 12:30-31 (NIV)
I don't know anyone who would disagree with that statement until they look at their bank accounts or houses or cars. We say relationships are most important but our priorities reveal the truth. Too often we value things more than people. I wonder what the Lord thinks when I refuse to give to a charity in order to buy something for myself. I find that selfishness robs me for real life. Life as God intended it to be lived and experienced. I cannot receive what God has for me when my hands are closed tight around my things. God calls us to be givers especially of ourselves rather than just takers. The greatest gift I can give another is my focused attention, that is my time. So often I get to busy doing what I can in order to get more things that I neglect what is most important, time with the people the Lord has brought into my life. As I begin this 40 Days of Love journey I want to intentionally turn my focus from things to relationships and to invest quality time in growing those relationships. I hope you will join me as we invest in people not just stuff. We all have plenty of stuff so let's spend time loving each other and developing those relationships that will last forever.
Lord as I begin this journey help me to recognize when I am short changing the people in my life for the sake of things and stuff. Let me build deep and meaningful relationships that honor you and bring joy to my life. Amen
4 comments:
Pastor, I'm concerned about the opening statement that "NOTHING is more important than relationships." What about truth? When relationships trump truth, aren't we in danger of accepting and condoning attitudes, behavior and practices that are inconsistent with the Biblical truth? While relationships are critical, at what cost? At what price? Hasn't this belief led us down the road of turning an eye away from issues and habits that are unacceptable and inappropriate? Are you sure that NOTHING is more important than relationships? Please respond.
I understand your concern and am in sympathy with your thoughts. Of course we cannot throw out truth or play easy with it. Jesus claimed to be "the truth" and he taught that "the truth shall set you free" but the "Son shall set you free indeed." Since Jesus is the truth and he is the one that tells us to Love God with all we are and others as ourselves and that there are no commandments greater than these, I think we should take him at his word. He did not say that truth was the greatest commandment.
I wonder if truth here is an assumed foundation for the behavior he is calling for?
The emphasis here is not on relationship for relationship's sake but that our faith is to be lived out in relationship not a vacuum. Let me know what you are thinking.
Perhaps you are correct in that Jesus assumed that truth was already evident in the relationship. My concern however is that a lot of churches, pastors, friends, etc. overlook inappropriate relationships and condone clearly unBiblical behavior because...as they like to say....nothing is more important than the relationship and it must not be damaged at any costs. If so, then what about the situation in the book of Corinthians where the relationship with God and the affirmation of His truth is more critical than maintaining the relationship with the one who sins. I guess I feel more comfortable in saying that relationships are a critical component to life and faith. God demonstrates the importance of relationships by being in communion within the Trinity. However, this does not mean that relationships are the most critical thing to life. Frankly, when Jesus tells us that loving people and God are the two most important commandments, I don't think he's saying that "nothing is more important than relationships.' I think what he is saying is that relationships are vital and we must always be loving to all people. However, my concern is that your comment could lead folks to believe that "loving people" with the interest of elevating relationships over all else, could lead to dangerous ends. I'm sure you agree...just a friendly caution. :)
Caution well taken. The abuses you have cautioned against cannot happen when I am loving as God would have me love. That is where the "truth" shapes what this command looks like and how it is carried out. There certainly are those who would abuse and misuse this command to promote their own purposes. We must caution against that and address it when we see it. Here is the kicker though. Even when we see people abusing this we are to love them. Not condone their abuse or caudle their feelings but we are to love them for the sake of the kingdom. That is where this command is hard for me.
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