All Relationships Must Grow

   It is not only important to start a relationship with Jesus, but like any other relationship on earth, that relationship must continually grow in order to remain healthy and flourishing.  The relationship that we have with our parents naturally changes and grows over time.  The friendships that we have with a few close people in our life can become extremely helpful as they grow over time.  The relationship that we may establish with the opposite sex will either grow in one direction or the other.  It may develop as friends or, over a period, it may develop toward a marriage.  Even married couples need to develop and grow as a couple as time passes.  Our relationship at work with our supervisor, employees, or co-workers also grows over time.  Just about every relationship we have grows over time.  If for some reason, a relationship becomes stagnant and does not grow, then it will more than likely end, or become very unhealthy.  All healthy relationships grow.

   The growth of a healthy relationship usually has definable steps.  For instance, a couple will go from attraction to friendship, to dating, to courtship, to engagement, and even to marriage.  There are milestone events in the relationship as the couple decides to court (we used to call this going steady), or when the couple gets engaged, and the obvious milestone when the couple is married.  As two people develop as friends, there are also various stages, from acquaintances to casual friends, to close friends, or to “BFF: Best Friends Forever.”  Each type of relationship generally goes through a progression of milestone events and some definable stages.

   You can imagine the man that has kept the courtship going with a lady that has drawn his heart but is unable to muster the courage to propose.  Or the parent who has not been able to get past the stage where they “baby” their child and give them just about everything they want—to the stage where they provide some instruction, discipline, and correction to help that child mature.  The woman in the courtship may begin to pull away.  The child may develop a sense of entitlement and an unbalanced life if they are never shown the stages of life.  Any relationship that fails to grow will more than likely result in unexpected difficulty, adjustment, and hardship.  

   It is absolutely the same with our relationship with Christ…it must grow.  Listen to the words of Paul in Philippians 3:10: “That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings.”  Paul is saying that he wanted to know Christ.  You may say, “Wait a minute, Paul, I thought you already knew Christ—you met Him on the road to Damascus.”  He did know Him, but Paul knew that you could know Christ, and you can know Him some more, and you can know Him some more! 

   Listen as Paul prays for the Ephesian 3:17–20: “That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; and to know the love of Christ, which passes knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fullness of God. Now unto him, that is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us.”

   Paul is showing the believers that there is much more to know about Christ, much more to experience, much more to share.  His life with Christ began on the road to Damascus but continued to grow till he went home to be with Him in heaven.  Paul also uses various illustrations to describe the progressive relationship with Christ.  He uses the example of a runner in 1 Corinthians 9:24–26 as someone who is living his life as a runner striving after a prize.  In Hebrews12:1, the writer admonishes us to “run with patience the race that is set before us.”  We are in the race of living our lives with Christ and we need to continue to put one foot in front of the other.

   This paper was taken as an excerpt from my new book Starting and Growing in a relationship with Jesus Christ. If you are interested in reading more – you can find this book on Amazon.com.

 

Written by Lee Malden  2020

For more information: email lmalden@hotmail.com

 

These are my thoughts today, what do you think?  Please leave me a response or email me and I would be happy to hear your thoughts.