It’s impossible to go through life alone and be happy, successful, or prosperous. This is why a solid grasp of what it truly means to be a Christian gives born-again believers such an advantage in the world. Christianity isn’t just another religion, but a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. This fellowship is the foundation for how we love and relate to others.
Letting this relationship transform every area of our lives, especially our relationships with others, is the key. When we get saved just to avoid hell, we miss the whole point of salvation. Jesus shed His blood so we could come into God’s presence. This kind of fellowship was impossible before He came to earth and restored the broken relationship between mankind and the Father.
There’s a big difference between simply knowing about God and actually knowing Him. Knowing Him is experiential: it’s intimate, personal, and powerful. “Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ: Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord, According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue” (2 Peter 1:1-3).This isn’t just head knowledge, but heart knowledge. Truly knowing Him changes how we treat others because we’re no longer operating out of lack, but out of love.
Walking closely with God is never easy because it makes us targets for the enemy. “Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution” (2 Timothy 3:12). The good news is that when we’re focused on God, what used to shake us doesn’t shake us anymore because we’ve changed. When we dwell in the secret place of the Most High, we abide under His shadow (Psalm 91:1). This is protection, peace, and power, all wrapped up in relationship with Him.
God’s love is intense. “But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved)” (Ephesians 2:4, 5, NKJV). Receiving this love empowers us to love others the same way. We stop seeing people through the lens of judgment and start seeing them through the lens of grace. This is what relationships rooted in Christ look like.
God doesn’t just have love—He is love. It’s His sole motivation. He’s not sitting back waiting to punish us, but leaning in, wanting to bless us, heal us, and see us whole. “For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people” (Hebrews 8:10). Through His Son, God replaced the Old-Testament Law of Moses with His New-Testament law of love.
The foundation on which we build our relationships matters greatly. They’re bound to crumble when built on self-effort and image, but they’ll stand through the storms if they’re rooted in Christ. We’ll never have success in relationship-building until we first have a relationship with the Master. When we experience Him firsthand, we’ll never be the same.
