Friendships seem to have played an integral part of humanity since creation. This was God’s idea, not man’s. Then the LORD God said, “It is not good for the man to live alone. I will make a suitable companion to help him” (Genesis 2:18, TEV). However, when sin entered the world because of Adam and Eve’s sin against God, relationships led to death when Cain killed his brother Abel. It might be said that relationships can be a blessing or a curse, depending on the heart of the person.
Jesus said You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself (Matthew 22:37-40, ESV). It is noteworthy that Jesus prioritized them by calling one of them the first and the other the second, but stated each was a commandment. However, if we are not careful, our desire for relationships or caring for others can become more important to us and separate us from our relationship with God. When this happens, it becomes a curse. Our Trinitarian God intends for our love for man to flow out of our love relationship with our God and thereby become a blessing.
Relationships can also be a blessing or a curse to our faith in Christ. We will do fine so long as we regularly feed our spirit and soul on God’s Word. It is when we become weary in working for God, discouraged because God didn’t do what we had expected, physically sick or exhausted, etc. that we become most vulnerable to the words of a misguided Christian or an unbeliever. If, for example, we have a relationship with a cynical believer, Satan will be quick to use that relationship to eat away our relationship with Christ.
Being born again is never about rules and regulations, it is about being restored in your relationship to your triune God. Nor is it about mental assent. The fact is, if your belief in God is only that Jesus died to forgive people in general for their sins—but you don’t believe that Jesus died for you—you aren’t taking hold of Jesus by faith. You only have religion.
When Mary Magdalene went to the tomb on Easter morning, she knew and intensely loved Jesus. She, along with the other disciples, heard Jesus repeatedly say he would die and rise again on the third day. Yet, at the tomb, when Jesus was standing right in front of her, she could not believe he had risen from the dead. It had not even occurred to her. It wasn’t until Jesus called her name (a relational experience) did she believe. This is a great illustration of how no one is born again unless they have a personal encounter with Christ. And when that occurs, a new relationship is born. Everything becomes new and things look very different. It will be this relationship factor that will sustain us through the deepest of dark valleys we may encounter.
Because human relationships are physical, we typically default to thinking only of a physical relationship. We think only of what we see and feel rather than of what is invisible to the natural eye, what is above. This is why Paul had to write specifically Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth (Colossians 3:2, ESV). Remember Jesus said, If you want to be my disciple, you must hate everyone else by comparison—your father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even your own life. Otherwise, you cannot be my disciple (Luke 14:26, NLT2).