It's not what you know (Part 1of 3)

Is it possible that we spend too much time seeking connection with God and not enough time seeking connection with people? Can we be too often “alone with God” and miss the whole point for why he came? In some ways it’s easier to “spend time” with God than is it to “spend time” with others. People are messy. They don’t always respond well and they require something of me. Having a relationship with people requires work.

And if we have to have relationships with people, then it’s a lot easier to have them with other “church” people than to spend time with outsiders. Outsiders don’t talk our talk and sometimes they do inappropriate things. It’s not easy have a relationship with others.

Relationship is the foundation of the truth of God. Look at the amount of time Christ spent alone with the Father as opposed to with people. His relationship to the Father was essential, but his relationships with people took the vast majority of the time. If Christ is our model for life, then we need more time with people. But we fear it, because we don’t do relationship well.

We lack good relational skills because we are not in good relationships. It sounds like a catch 22 and it kind of is. To learn good relationships, there has to be a combination of learning and practice. It‘s the practice work that gets neglected.

The church has built itself on Bible teaching, program facilitation and building campaigns. We have compartmentalized our social lives and segregated our relationships or neglected them altogether. We are a relationally dysfunctional people who desperately need others.