Ever want more? Sure, we all do, that's the nature of appetites. No matter how much you have if you have an appetite for food, success, power, love, money........you want more.
In my travels, one of the most common things I hear people say is they want more meaningful relationships.
More relationships? No, more "meaningful" relationships!
In a day where pretty much everyone is at your finger tips by way of cell phones, Facebook, Twitter, txt messages, email and dozens of other social networks there is still a longing for more, but not just more, more meaningful relationships.
So how do we get there? There's a lot of things we can do, but for a moment let me share a thought from Philippians 3:10-11 "that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, 11 if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead."
While Paul is encouraging the Church of Philippi to "press towards the goal" of living for Christ. I see also in this scripture one of the keys to developing more meaningful relationships. Many times our friendships hang out at the "knowledge of His resurrection." We fellowship with other believers and build connections based on the fact we're Christians. That's a good things, it's a starting point. But to stay there is not only shallow, but encourages our appetite for more.
"Fellowship of His sufferings," this is real rubber meets the road when it comes to going deeper. Who have you suffered with? Who are the friends that you have cried together, have gone through the pain of life with? Who knows your struggles, temptations and shortcomings?
"Being conformed to His death." Death stinks! Let's face it, not to many dead people walking around these days. Dead to agendas, dead to selfishness gain. Dead to excuses. You know what I mean. I'm guilty. I've often used social media to promote me. Getting to a place where everyone in the relationship is giving of themselves till it hurts is a hard place to get. It's living a life where your house, your phone bill, your food, your clothes, your children, your job, your gas is not yours anymore. It's His and theirs.
But the truth be told, when you get there you find out it doesn't hurt at all because you cant hurt a dead person.
Going deeper is a process, hopefully you got some ideas for your next step in having more meaningful relationships.
