Getting Back To Basics

I haven't written anything in awhile.  So before I get back into the swing of things I would like to take a moment to get back to the whole point of why I write.  The name of this Blog is "It's All About The Relationship."  The reason for that is it envelops the ideas of the two greatest commandments: Love God and Love Others.  Most of the stuff that I write in this blog I hope fits under that category somehow.

(Disclaimer: I am still and always will be learning the lessons mentioned below...so please don't take it that  I've got it figured out.)

Now while I believe that the Church in America does a decent job at teaching these commandments, I'm not sure how well Evangelical Churches as a whole are doing when it comes to teaching how to live these commandments/how far reaching into our everyday lives they are.  I mean Jesus did say that these two commands sum up the entire Old Testament/TANAK (Jewish name for it)!

We fail to teach how God is using our relationships with other people--whether it be parent, spouse, sibling, enemy, friend, coworker, or neighbor--to shape us into His Son's likeness.  I know so many that want to be a better parent, but don't know how to be one.  They look at the plethora of parenting books in the store, but have no idea which of the many conflicting voices to listen too!

Instead, why don't we stream line it for them.  Get someone to teach them about the greatest parenting methods of all time: Those of our heavenly Father!  Gary Thomas says that, "The Bible doesn't give many direct commandments of how to parent.  Instead, it shows us how our Heavenly Father relates to His difficult children (a paraphrase form Sacred Parenting)."  We can learn a lot about patience, consequences, love, appropriate boundaries/rules, and more if we just remembered that God reveled Himself as Father for a reason,

The same goes for spouses!  Jesus revealed Himself as the Bridegroom and the Church as the bride!  Again, we can learn so much about what these relationships should look like if we would remember simple points like this.  People would see large sections of scripture in a whole new light.

God made us to be relational beings because that is what His essence within the Trinity is!  In the end all any of us has is our relationships with God and others.  If we tried to parent like our Heavenly Father and be a spouse like Christ and even understand what it is to be a Child (Son) from Him, there wouldn't be as many conflicting voices pointing the true way.

So when you are preaching, teaching, or doing your daily devotionals ask this question: What relationships are addressed here and how can I become more Christ like to those in my life?

It will be difficult, strenuous, even painful at times if you decide to embark on this adventure...but you will be able to say that it was worth it!  If you would like someone to walk with on this journey, please let me know and I would love to have walk along side me as I also continue to learn these lessons and/or I can point you in the direction of someone else who can walk with you.

Next Up:  Putting Christ Back In Thanksgiving!


Until next time enjoy "Loving God, Loving Each Other" by The Gaither Vocal Band