Relationships

““Teacher, which is the most important commandment in the law of Moses?” Jesus replied, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” Matthew 22:36-39 (NLT)
Why bother with relationships? Why can't we just be left alone rather than add more to our already over-loaded lives? Because relationships are the eternal part of our lives. Notice that the two greatest commands are not about being religious; they are about being relational. We were made to love God and each other. We are also called to be the objects of His love.
As we draw near to God—as we are caught up in his incredible, relentless love for us, the following will be true in our lives:
We’ll no longer live for ourselves but we will live to please Christ.
We’ll not only love God, but we will love His people because He wants us to.
We’ll realize we are called to be vulnerable. Christ gave His life up for us, so we also ought to give up our lives for others.
We’ll find Christ's love for us has the potential to defeat our insecurities and give us the resources we need to love others. We love because He first loved us—and nothing can separate us from His love.
          And lastly, we share Jesus’ wounds. 1 Peter 4:13 says: “But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed.” There is nothing wasted in the kingdom of God; even our suffering is redeemed. As Brennan Manning says, “The unwounded life bears no resemblance to the Rabbi"
-Pastor Dino Griffin