The first beneficiary by Deon Crafford

Matthew 20:25-28 But Jesus called them to him and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Relationships are without a doubt the key to our human nature or being. We may all have different approaches to relationships, but even the most ardent recluse, will still end up in some kind of relationship with others. According to Scripture, God created man in order to have a relationship with him – thus the imperative of our existence was to be in a relationship. And if you come to think of it, our entire world or being is held together by a complex web of relationships – in every nook and cranny of life. Even with no one around, I still end up in a relationship with self – the “other” and hopefully pretty much the same me or that composition of me I desire to be, but which may still be work in progress. Bottom line is this – I am entangled (happily mostly) in a plethora of relationships that give meaning and purpose to my life.

Relationships don’t just exist. In order for relationships to be live and functional, they need to be resourced constantly. Relationships feed on contact (time & presence); communication (information & feedback); commendation (appreciation & affirmation); consistency (trust & reliability) and compassion (empathy & caring), amongst others. Without these resources flowing into relationships they tend to wilt and die. When cared for, relationships keep producing life enhancing benefits. Think for a moment of those relationships you are in that build you up, grow you and encourage you. Then ask yourself how much you are consciously putting into those selfsame relationships – are you doing your part in keeping them alive and well? See, relationships all have an input end and an output end. The balance of input and output determines the outcome of such a relationship. A relationship in which someone is constantly just taking (only output matters) tends to run down. A relationship that has a cavernous craving for contribution only (just input), burns out its source and eventually dissipates too. By now you get where this is going.

The Cross and the Empty Grave signals Jesus’ act of sourcing our relationship with God sufficiently for eternity. He gave all, while we only arrived with our soiled and selfish lives. He was and remains the source, which we can never match, but don’t need to either. All we are privileged to come with is a willingness to seek God and worship Him. The outcome of this relationship then is service. If we get the heart of Christ, our relationships will all be biased to serving, not being served. On the other side of the Empty Grave there is no more justification for selfishness, but abundant confirmation of selflessness.

Love to all