The jumbled world of relationships

We have so many relationships in life, more than we realize.  Are you like me and sometimes hear yourself thinking “Oh I must get with that person” or “We should have those people over for a meal”.  Nothing wrong with that, its normal and right. For many of us, the image on the right represents our behavior when it comes to relationships. A few years ago I realized that my personality type gets energy from social interactions. I enjoy being with people. But I also found at times the feeling of “being a butterfly”. With a large group of people, we can flutter from one person to the next and not have any depth.  When my world was turned up side down and inside out, I saw very quickly relationships in a new way, through the model of concentric circles. It put value, order and purpose to those relationships. It also brings realism to just how many meaningful relationships we can have.  I recommend going through the process of identifying who in our lives is in which circle. Also, think through where your friends and family would place themselves in your circles!

A gate and then a road

Gate and then a road

Read this today and it so resonated with me.

Salvation is not a product, but a relationship. It is not finished when one trusts Christ; it has only begun (a gate and then a road, cf. Matthew 7)!  It is not a fire insurance policy, nor a ticket to heaven, but a life of growing Christlikeness.  We have a proverbial saying that says the longer a couple lives together, the more they begin to look alike.  This is the goal of salvation!

We hear the question “When someone is saved, are they always saved?” I wonder whether the motivation for the question is due to self.