The Key Word Is Reciprocity

teeter-totterBy Kristen Wells

Reciprocity ~ a relation of mutual dependence or action or influence.

When you think of God and His Son Jesus Christ and your relationship with Him, do you think of it as being reciprocal?  Is there mutual dependence or influence?  Does God depend on you or is He influenced by you?

The answer is no ~ God does not need anything from us.

The God who made the world… is not served by human hands as if he needed anything. (Acts 17:24-25)

Yet we act as if God does need us and depend on us.  Like what we do in our acts will accomplish some great thing.  This is false.  Nothing can happen outside of God.  It is God who works His good works through us! (Philippians 2:13)  He does not need us to earn our faith, our life, our friends, our children.  He graciously gives them to us because He loves us!

I have loved you with an everlasting love. (Jeremiah 31:3)

Yet, even in knowing this, it would be a demise to a person’s relationship with Christ to think that God does not want our relationship to be based on reciprocity!  Yet it is how it is reciprocated that is the key.

God does all things for us.  He is giving to us every day and in every way.  He gave us the greatest gift we could ever have been given and that was His Son Jesus Christ ~ who gave us His life so that we could have a relationship with the One who made us.  So how is it reciprocal?  What is our part in this mutual relationship?  Simple ~ love.  Just as God’s greatest gift was His love to us, so shall we reciprocate with our love to Him!  I am not just talking about a love filled by words or works ~ because those apart from faith are dead.  I am talking about the same type of agape love He shows to us.

God’s love for us is ever reaching, never ending, all consuming… can we say the same for our love for Him?  His motivations are for the good of those who love Him (Romans 8:28) yet do all of our motivations and things we do work for the good of God?

Now, we will never be perfect!  That is true.  We will fall short time and time again.  Yet we can mold our motivations and our relationship with God from being a one sided love from God to a passionate filled reciprocated love.  This is what God yearns for.  He doesn’t want your ministry, your articles, your books, your good works… if they are void of true love for Him.  Because it is not the actual act you are providing (again He does not need anything from you) ~ it is the love that spurs it that He wants.

So as we come close to celebrating this Resurrection Sunday, I want us all to examine our relationships with the One True God.  Let us think about the true sacrifice of His Son and the love that God granted us through that.  May we ask ourselves if we are giving God the love and honor that He deserves on a daily basis regardless of our circumstances?  For God so loved the world that He sent His only Son… (John 3:16) and we so loved God that we… what?  How will you reciprocate?  How can you make your relationship with God an all-consuming one that motivates everything you do or say?  By loving Him… by knowing Him… by seeking Him every day in every moment as He does you!

Happy Resurrection Sunday!

 

 

authorAbout the author:
Kristen Wells has a bachelors of science degree in biblical counseling and is the author of The Warring Soul. She resides in California with her wonderful husband, Greg, her son, Justin, and her daughter, Katie.

Besides writing, Kristen enjoys reading, knitting, playing board games, substitute teaching at her kid’s school and mentoring youth. When she is not attending to the needs of her family, you can find Kristen curled up with a good book and a cup of coffee or fellowshipping with friends.  Above all, she lives to exemplify Christ in her everyday life and help others to find their way out of darkness.

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