Keeping strangers as strangers …

One reason why the church is lacking in making an impact on lives is because it has internalized the “genie in the bottle” complex.

What I mean by that is, first we act quite impersonally with God. We often don’t want a personal relationship with God, we want a “genie in a bottle” on whom we can call to fix tough problems in our lives and miraculously blink what we want into existence. It’s a very impersonal way of approaching God.

But we have gone beyond that and internalized that attitude. Now, it’s fairly common to see “good deeds” or “acts of kindness” by both churches or individual Christians being offered very impersonally … or more specifically, without relationship. We may do something to help someone, or show up to offer some service to others, but then bail once the deed is done, leaving no trace of real relationship (or loving interaction) behind.

God has not called us to be deed-doers, He’s called us to love the lost to Him and serve one another! The church cannot be the body of Christ without extending the love of Christ, and that requires genuine interaction with others. When Jesus healed the leper, He reached out and touched him, and when He healed the blind man, He reached out and touched his eyes … He went beyond accomplishing the deed to connecting with the person.

We’ve long been used to showing up to “church” on Sunday mornings and being friendly with people we have nothing to do with except on Sunday mornings, yet think we’re actually “friends.” That behavior is nothing more than weekly acquaintances.

Now, in an attempt to encourage people to serve others in their local communities, many churches are taking a Sunday each month and going out into the community to do good deeds on a Sunday morning instead of having the regular worship service. While the focus on, and encouragement of, service is a positive thing, what is often happening is a “good deed” is being done and then the servers move on to the next task to be completed the following month. No relationships are nurtured in process of serving.

That is not “Christian service.”

All that Jesus Christ did for us flowed from a genuine love and was relationship-oriented. He’s not a holy handyman who appears to make repairs. He works in our lives because He loves us and desires an intimate relationship with us. That is the example of how we need to minister to others in His name. We need to serve like Jesus served.

What that means for us as Christians is we need to make time for people. We have to get past all of the excuses, and even the good reasons, we have for being so busy and create time to build relationships that flow from our love for Christ and others. Unless we do, our deeds ring hollow.

Do you have love-based relationships with your brothers and sisters in Christ? When you serve others, do you make the time to connect with the person, or are you just accomplishing a deed? How can you better extend yourself in relationship to others?

Scotty