"No Strings Attached"

As I was preparing for this week's message, I found a random blog that talked about The difference between a “transactional relationship” (social connection) vs. a “trust relationship”.

It was referring to our need for REAL relationships that are beyond business relationships - where we want to connect - in order to sell, network, etc. (which is nothing wrong - that's how business is done). But it said, “We don’t look as individual agents that are going to realize connections with others to obtain tactical operational benefit…we don’t use our relationships… we are our relationships!”

Through this, a guy at VL - Joe Wright mentioned to me last night that as Christians, we can appear that way sometimes - which is a subject that has been brought up to me recently.

As Christians, we struggle with having relationships - REAL relationships - with those that are "unbelievers" or "unchurched". It can feel awkward for both parties - feeling like we just need to get them converted and for others to feel like that's all we want out of the relationship - like a "transactional" relationship.

I believe we need to be intentional to live - with our lives and lips - WHO Jesus is and our relationship with Him. But what happens when they still choose not to believe? Do we move on? Or do we show them that no matter what, we love them? That may seperate the "transactional" relationship from the "trust" relationship.

I do not know exactly what the BEST answer is - other than it is a "both/and" not an "either/or", but I do think about Jesus - that He performed miracles and healed people and had compassion on them - whether they followed Him or not. Maybe we should read more about Him and how He treated people - ALL people - no matter where they were in life or what they did or did not believe.

I want people to know God b/c God loves people - way more than I could on my own. But people may not realize this - until we love people - genuinely, "No Strings Attached".