Recently, I have been locked in on theme of relationships as the foundation of the Kingdom. The more I spend time in this topic, the more I look at the ministry of Jesus, and His invitation and call, the more I am convinced that this is really the most important thing we can pursue and foster. First and foremost our personal relationship with the Lord, then our relationships with each other.
Jesus came as a representative of the Father, and His primary message was love. Love is the language of relationships, not activity or duty or religion. Love requires an object of affection, and the Love that Jesus speaks of is the love between people, brotherly love, or the Greek word Agape. Thus, in all of the verses copied below, the object of affection for each of the instances is a person, whether each other or God.
John probably spends more time on the subject of love than any of the other writers. I think these verses from his first letter are very apropos:
1 John 4:7-12 NIV:
[7] "Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. [8] Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. [9] This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. [10] This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. [11] Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. [12] No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.
The new and final commandment issued by Jesus is simply, “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. [35] By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” John 13:34-35.
And finally Paul in his famous verses from his first letter to the Corinthians:
1 Corinthians 13:1-7, 13 NIV
[1] "If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. [2] If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. [3] If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.
[4] Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. [5] It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. [6] Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. [7] It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
[13] And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love."
So, let us build the foundations correctly. It's not upon deeds or activities, accomplishments or service programs, but upon relationships of love that the Kingdom of God rests. Its our relationships with each other, the way we treat one another that is supposed to be the sign of our following Jesus. Not a T-shirt, not a sticker on our car, not a pin on our lapel, but how we care for each other, how we love one another, how we treat those we meet, and those we already know, that our representation of Jesus is supposed to be seen and experienced. This is the foundation that will last, loving relationships.
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