By Nathan
Today we had the opportunity to talk to a panel of extraordinary people in class. These followers of Christ all work in, or are in charge of, some sort of non-profit around Spokane that help the less privileged in some capacity. There were many themes that I got out of the conversation including Christ’s calling for us and building a community, just to name a few. One theme stood out from the group though and that was about relationship. If there is one thing that I have learned from my time at Whitworth so far is that life is about relationships – both a personal relationship with God and with our brothers and sisters around the globe.
God wants us to be in relationships and love one another. In 1 John 4:7, Jesus says, “My dear friends, we must love each other. Love comes from God, and when we love each other, it shows that we have been given new life.” When we invest time in our relationships and learn to love our neighbors, we are not only building on our personal relationships but also our relationship with God. This is God’s word in Romans 5, “For one will scarcely die for a righteous person – though perhaps for a good person one would dare to even die – but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” The panel explained to us important relationships are in their lives and how much they value their friendships in their journey with Christ – truly amazing. This is a theme that I have heard before in other classes and it is really cool to see everything intertwine under one heading. -NW
I agree balancing both types of relationship can provide a deep meaningful avenue for growth from two completely different sides of the spectrum.
Although, maybe there are times in our lives where one is more necessary for our own protection or growth and so consequently we experience more of a certain type of relationship?…
Nathan,
I totally agree with you that relationships are vitally important. This last year God has really been working to show me how important relationships are in evangelism. I had always thought of evangelism before as walking around trying to convert people, but over the past year and in the panel the other day it was obvious that “incarnational missions” is a better and more biblical path to take. And this type of evangelism is hinged on the idea of building strong relationships with the people you are trying to reach with the Gospel.
I love what you said about loving our neighbor and in doing so, we are showing our love for God. It makes me think about growing up and when my siblings and I would argue, my parents would always be so upset. They just wanted us to get along because we are there children and they love us all, and thus don’t want any of us to be hurting. I think that this can be applied to our relationship with our brothers and sisters in Christ. God created all of us and thus he does not want to see us fighting, in conflict, waging war. He wants to see us loving one another and I think that this is the best way to glorify God.
I think another interesting thing is how relationships with people we don’t like play into this. Relationships take time and energy no matter who they’re with, but it’s so much harder to put work into one with someone we’re annoyed by or just don’t like. I think it’s an important part of living incarnationally though. -jd
The question of what relationships deserve higher priority is interesting. But personally I don’t think there is one with more importance than the other- they both are necessary. Fellowship with other people of faith is needed to grow in faith and relationship, supporting and challenging one another. But relationships with those outside the Christian community definitely cannot be neglected as well because we are a sent people, called to join God in his work of making disciples. From my experience, it seems like many churches tend to emphasize building one type of relationship over the other, but as we invest equally in each, I believe both will flourish even more.
Which relationships do you think deserves higher priority, and therefore the majority of our time?
Relationships within Christian community?
OR
Relationships with those outside of Christian community?