:: greatness is a life well-lived ::

on relationships

I think we as humans have a very low view of relationships, and the power and responsibility we have as relational beings. But more so as spiritual beings.

It must be such an affront to God when we have such a low view of others. He created us innately as relational beings, made to enjoy deep, fulfilling relationships with Himself and others.

The fall has broken our view of each other.

While much of my life and its happenings tend to run together and everything impacts everything else, I do struggle with compartmentalizing people, labeling them based on what I've observed or learned, placing them in some level of "value" category. This broken way of viewing people hinders everything, and prevents me from having a higher view of the innate value of a person based entirely on the fact that they are God's treasured possession. I am sorry for how my brokenness has impacted even you reading this.

To know this about myself grieves me, grieves the Spirit within me. God is working in me and changing me. It takes painful lessons, usually involving a guy, wherein I recognize I have no problem actually, with highly valuing someone, when I really want to. But that's where I go wrong. In my brokenness, I place the wrong kind of high view of man, and have my own designs and hopes about the relationship. God proceeds to break me of that wrong view, and shows me that I still have too low a view of man, for there's an even higher way that I entirely miss when I settle and aim for what I think the relationship should be.

This time, though, I learned something new. I was beginning to think rightly, and truly was recognizing the seriousness of forming a healthy, godly relationship, and taking a high view of this person. But in the mix I also allowed emotion and my own sinfulness to infiltrate the process and began to see things in the compartment of human reasons for relationships (ie - marriage), as if that is the highest valued male-female relationship, as if God doesn't have some other higher calling for His Church, men and women, to be in healthy, godly relationships, for the purpose of building the body and influencing each other to be more like Christ, to be the godly men and godly women that He desires us to be. For, truly, we will have many more brothers (or sisters) in this life, than husbands (or wives), and so it is wise to figure out how to think and act and value rightly those brothers (and sisters).

And I stand in awe and wonder at the power of God at work in our lives, for I think of the amazing men of God I have been blessed to cross paths with throughout my life, dear brothers who have been part of my journey toward becoming more like Christ, who sometimes I valued as brothers in Christ and was so blessed by them, but sometimes others who I valued too little and desired something else besides "just" being their sister. How much I fear I have missed because of that misplaced view. But I am learning and aiming to change in this regard. And not just in my view of brothers, but with all those God has placed in my life, men and women. For nothing is for nothing and God has a purpose in putting people in our lives.

I wonder what male-female relationships would have looked like had Adam and Eve not sinned...yes, they were married, but what about others in future generations, how would they have related? We have that to look forward to when Christ restores all things. But I also think He calls us NOW to bring that kind of Shalom to relationships He has given to us now; He calls us to be ministers of reconciliation, with the mind of Christ in us, and the love of Christ compelling us.

The Ministry of Reconciliation ~
Since, then, we know what it is to fear the Lord, we try to persuade men. What we are is plain to God, and I hope it is also plain to your conscience. We are not trying to commend ourselves to you again, but are giving you an opportunity to take pride in us, so that you can answer those who take pride in what is seen rather than in what is in the heart. If we are out of our mind, it is for the sake of God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you. For Christ's love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.
So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. ~ 2 Corinthians 5:11-21

CS Lewis, in The Weight of Glory talks about the fact that there are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. In light of the immortality of human souls with which we interact, we must approach relationships with awe and care and in all seriousness, knowing that we are either helping them toward Christ or away from Him. But Lewis also says, "This does not mean we are to be perpetually solemn. We must play. But our merriment must be of that kind (and it is, in fact, the merriest kind) which exists between people who have, from the outset, taken each other seriously."

posted by FaithChristine @ 20:33