This summer, we are trying to address the area of relationships in our lives. On one level, this focus could be seen as some pretty light weight stuff. We could be talking about the fluffy and idealistic Disney type things of Prince Charming and Sleeping Beauty finding love and living happily ever after. Unfortunately, that story (and others like it) are actually the fluffy and idealistic Disneyland make-believe that eventually creates great disappointment for us if we think that’s the way life actually is or should be.
Reality is that the ideal and glorious type of relationships we were created for in Genesis chapters 1 and 2 became tragically scarred and marred in Genesis chapters 3 and 4. Ever since that eventful day in the Garden of Eden, mankind has struggled to figure out how to engage one another and the God who made us. We so often find ourselves separated from Him and from each other with little hope that those relationships can be healed and redeemed. We find ourselves heartbroken and bitter as a result of the fissures and fractures that develop between us and those we would hope to be close to. The Struggle Is Real… and we ache to have it fixed.
Though we will probably never have it all “tidied up” and “running on all eight cylinders,” there is great opportunity for us to relate to one another, and to God, in a much better fashion. Christ has become the perfect model of, not only how to relate to people (truth and grace integrated perfectly in each and every situation), but He has supplied the mercy and grace that sets us free to be empowered by His indwelling Spirit. As a result He wants us to relate to one another in mutually submitting relationships that brings unity and peace.
In a world where so many are abandoning their marriages, families are bruised and battered by the chaos of dysfunction, the workplace can be a place of competition and contempt, and with the ethnic and religious divisions of our world widening everyday, there is a huge need for people to allow God to radically transform them, to stop resisting each other and to offer themselves honestly and humbly to one another.
So, we will not settle for Disneyland fluffy idealism this summer. Let’s dig deep into God’s Word and let it dig deep into hearts so we can deal with the struggle that is real for every one of us.
Yours,
Kevin