5. One goal of my journey is to grow my relational capacity, that is my ability to hold deep and healthy relationships with others and with Jesus.
Which do you find more difficult: loving others or receiving love from others? What might this tell you about yourself?
How have you grown to be more relationally mature and healthy in your journey so far?
Would you say that your need to be loved is being met in your life? If so, how? If not, why?
How does your relational maturity affect your relationship with Jesus, Spirit, and God the Father?
Reflect on your community of Jesus followers and how your community fulfills Jesus’ command to love one another.
Most journeys have a destination. Even though we may genuinely “enjoy the ride,” we typically have some idea of where we want to end up. So, too, on our spiritual journey. We certainly should enjoy the journey and not be in a hurry to reach the goal, but it can be helpful to have some idea of where we are going.
What then is the goal of our spiritual journey? For some, it’s to arrive in heaven to be with Jesus and others who have gone before us. For others, it’s to become a better person and achieve Christlikeness in our lives. For yet others, it’s about serving God and advancing His Kingdom. Certainly, none of these is a bad goal, but I believe that there is a better one—one that Jesus asks us to pursue in our spiritual journey on earth. I call this goal, “relational capacity.”
Relational capacity is our ability to hold deep and pure relationships with Jesus and with others. It is more than simply loving someone in a charitable, altruistic way. It is the ability to engage in reciprocal, ongoing, mutually beneficial relationships with God and others. All the previous goals can be pursued at least to some degree without experiencing a relationship with God and others.
In His last talk with His disciples, Jesus emphasized their need to “love one another.” The “one another” part is significant. It is possible to love our enemy, love a stranger, or even love other Christians, yet not develop a relationship with them. But we cannot “love one another”—that is, participate in a reciprocal, back and forth, loving experience—without being in relationship with the other.
Jesus is not just asking us to love others, He is asking us to invest in loving relationships with others; to love others, and to receive love from others. Why is this so important? Jesus gave two reasons: “Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.” (John 17:23, NIV).
Our spiritual journey should lead to the development of our relational capacity so that, through our loving relationships with others, 1. The world will come to know Jesus, and 2. We will personally participate in a loving relationship with God the Father.