As you have probably figured out, over the last few weeks I have spent quite a bit of time thinking about community. Our life together has been at the center of my study and my prayers. One result has been the discovery of a radical and rather convicting truth.
How I handle relationships is idolatrous. I treat people like I am the Savior, and so do you!
We think that we can have good, healthy relationships without Christ in the middle. We confess that Jesus is OUR Savior and that WE would be stuck in sin without him. We confess that He is OUR righteousness and OUR Redeemer, but—somehow—we are easily deceived into believing that some of our relationships can live without him. In fact, sometimes we act like Jesus is a relationship-killer. We try to save relationships by removing Christ. We act like we can fill the gap for the sake of our neighbor. This is foolishness! This is idolatry!
In the same way that you need Christ, so do the people around you. You are no substitute.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer once made the case that we should not believe that we have any direct access to other persons. He wrote, “Christ stands between me and others.” He said, “Spiritual love will thus speak to Christ about the other Christian more than to the other Christian about Christ. It knows that the most direct way to others is always through prayer to Christ and that love of the other is completely tied to the truth found in Christ “(Life Together)
In His Grace,
Pastor Wiist
