Greetings,
Life-giving relationships begin with a revelation of love and they are sustained through a growing revelation of that love. That love empowered revelation is the strength of true covenant commitments and it inspires acts of love towards one another in our relationships. Those acts of love prompt responses, and responses invoke a submission of one to another. That submission is based upon trust and it is a receiving of life and a giving of life to one another. It is like dancing. One move invites an responding move. It is like giving a drink of water to a thirsty mouth. The mouth must be ready to receive the water, but the hand must be willing to serve the mouth by tipping water in the direction of the thirsty mouth. Submission is not a matter of control or manipulation. It is a relational connection that allows there to be a dance of life that brings life to the relationship and bears the fruit of life to others touched by that relationship.
The trust of our submission determines the focus of our contribution to another. We must each receive a revelation that we were born to reveal something of the testimony of God in this world. Who we are is not for our own gain, but for the benefit of another. We are each part of the fellowship that contributes life to our covenant partners in life. When we have food at a table we don’t just merely experience food for our natural needs. We experience the feast of fellowship. When we willingly bring our best food to the table for the sake of another we create a feast and a celebration of diversity that makes the table a testimony of unity through the unique expressions brought by each one. Each of us has been given a measure of life to contribute to our relationships in life. It is not about what we can get from another, but what we can give so those at the table become a fuller expression of the one covenant expressed there. We must each recognize that those in our covenant relationships in life are contributors of life to our lives. More importantly, we must know that we are a gift of life for the sake of those we relate to. God gives each of us an ability to bring light to darkness and that light is for the glory of our relationship with God and with one another. It is a testimony of who Christ is according to His resurrection life! We must be awake to who you are and to who another is in the relationships of our lives. An ability to do works of righteousness for the sake of others is a testimony of life at the table of our relationships. There is a diversity of food that is given by each one, but there is one salt at the table that brings the unique flavor of who we each are for the sake of our fellowship together in life. Unity is revealed through diversity, not conformity. This can only be true when we know the mystery of living to contribute life to those we are in relationship with in life.
The focus of your contributions determines the value of your community. If we do not see that the contributions of our lives are for the life of others we will seek to take life from others and we will experience less than what God has for us. I believe that true community is the testimony of God’s presence that draws each member of the community to come-to-unity around the presence of Christ’s life. We then live with sacrificial love for one another we make decisions in our hearts for one another based upon love and not law. We become willing to make decisions for those we are in relationship in love and not a logical measurement of whether they deserve our love or not. This is the true testimony of sacrificial love for one another as one community for the glory of the relationship as one.
The value of your community determines the determination of your destiny. If we don’t have a revelation of our community together we will be willing to forfeit our destiny together in life. The purpose of our lives is not simply to live successful lives filled with earthly blessings. We were born to live significant lives that bear the fruit of generational destiny and inheritance. The fruit of our relationships in not merely revealed in our lifetimes, but it is ultimately revealed in the lives of our children and our children’s children.
Food For Thought,
Ted J. Hanson
