What are we like in a relationship?
The character of Christ is on display in all relations. There are, however, some relationships deliberately set up to reflect Christlike ones. Jesus spoke to crowds and developed a crew. He particularly invested time in His core, though, to establish the methods by which their relationships were to distinctly reflect His idea of relationships.
He applied the hallmark qualities that make His relationship with His Father special and poured out to His disciples the example of the qualities and values that would underpin and establish those connections for the glory of the Father, the benefit of the disciples, and witness to the world.
What matters to Jesus is that those who are filled with the Holy Spirit cultivate Christlike relationships marked by aspects such as Healing, Overflowing, Spirit-ledness, and Tender-heartedness. The aspect of healing is not to suggest that we do the healing, but rather to commit to the healing that Christ brings about in the relationship and to a desire for wholeness. Where other relationships might be marked by reticence and guardedness, the Christlike connection would be overflowing with the life of Christ, reflecting the generosity and joy that characterise God's involvement. Those filled with the Spirit would, unsurprisingly, base their relationship on where the Holy Spirit leads and directs, to deepen and flourish. The quality in the connection that most acutely reflects the character of God is a tender-hearted approach.
There is much to be said about how we connect because of Christ and how those relationships are significantly different to ones we held outside of Christ. Investing time to explore these and what emerges from that can do tremendous good to help us understand what Jesus meant when He said that the love we have for each other will let the world know we are His disciples. We can take things for granted and fall into sentimental and superficial feelings that are fine in the good, but go missing in times of trial. Thank God that He helps us by returning us to the source.
God never designed for us to walk with Jesus in individual capacities alone. He established key ships that could help us on the journey – discipleship, fellowship, companionship and partnership that join our hearts together with Jesus in the Kingdom causes. He set us on these ships to see how He navigates the choppy waters and the calm seas in such a way that enables us to recognise our need for Him and the strength we have in Him to journey towards the safe shores of home in Him.
We’ll start the exploration by considering the healing aspect of connections like Jesus …
For His Name’s Sake
C. L. J. Dryden
Shalom
Next Steps
Reflect: Make a list of the qualities that make a relationship distinctively Christlike that you can recall from the scriptures.
Pray: Lord Jesus, thank you for the love that was evident in your relationships. Thank you that you remained steadfast and faithful to those who were called to be with you. Thank you for the example you set and the relationships that flourished as a result. Help us to learn and apply that to our key relationships now more than ever, for your glorious name’s sake.
Act: From your list of qualities in Christlike relationships, select five of them and consider where you have seen them exhibited in your lifetime. Share your insights with a trusted somebody and pray that you will learn from example and be an example.
