Relational Capacities
I am convinced that one the greatest effects of the Fall on mankind is our diminished relational capacities. God designed us to be embedded in relationships, having made mankind in the image of the Godhead (plural – Genesis 1:26), who was eternally in community. His design was hearts, minds, and souls able to relate together, in intimate fellowship, with God and one another. But sin made all that harder! From the conflict between male and female (Genesis 3:12-13), the toil and pain of hard work (Genesis 3:16-19), to the hiding of ourselves from being known by God and others (Genesis 3:10), our relational capacities shrunk. This means that as the labor during the day takes our strength, we feel spent when it’s time to engage in friendship, marriage, and family at the end of the day. This means we have often used up our words during the day and can be lazy in communication with God (prayer) and others (friendship). This means we all-too-often feel like we have nothing left to give to our brothers and sisters who are also tired and in need of the love and encouragement of the body of Christ. Well, that’s all real … and we all know the practical effects of it all-too-well. You and I have two choices:
(1) We give into to the self-justification that we need time for ourselves rather than serving others. We reason that we are of no good to others when we have nothing left ourselves. We remind ourselves of the mess (or even unhelpful) conversations from previous small group gatherings. And we shrink back, retreat, and even hide from what God designed us for.
OR …
(2) We look to the Father, who promised to sustain us as the Great Provider. We remind ourselves that the Son reversed the curse of Genesis 3 and set us free to love others. We confidently move forward with the promise of the Spirit to be our Helper. And we look to the Word, where we see the apostle Paul spending himself to love others sacrificially and selflessly – “For you remember, brothers, our labor and toil: we worked night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you, while we proclaimed to you the gospel of God.” (1 Thessalonians 2:9)