This morning, as I thought about the aversion to meaningful/lasting relationships, the following two verses of Scripture came into alignment for me:
“Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein.” Mark 10:15 KJV
“Moreover your little ones, which ye said should be a prey, and your children, which in that day had no knowledge between good and evil, they shall go in thither, and unto them will I give it, and they shall possess it.” Deuteronomy 1:39 KJV
This verse from Deuteronomy pretty well nails the problem – “… knowledge between good and evil.”
Let’s call it “childhood wounding.” It seems that it is happening at a younger and young age as we see the end of the age approaching. There is all kinds of child abuse, all of it in the context of relationship. We hardly need to go into the details to make our point here. For the present it is enough to say that “wounded” and “offended” people are very reluctant to re-engage intimate relationships, whether with those who have hurt them in the past or those who are likely to hurt them in the future.
The Kingdom of God is all about relationship(s). If we cant get past our wounding, our offendedness, our “…knowledge of good and evil,” we are just not going to enter in. This is the conversation I would like to have here for the next few weeks – months.
We need to get real about the offenses and the wounding, and discover how to move beyond all that. Otherwise the best we are able to do, where “entering in” is concerned, is some kind of Christianized religious white wash.
Love!
For more reading on this subject, see The First Commandment With Promise
Loving Like God 
We have been made to witness what Jay describes, in spades. On considering our situation with relatives, I’m glad it played out like it did because it’s left my wife and I together, cleaving. Oh we still grieve of course for those who would rather fight and land knock out blows in desperately cleaving to their offense. We extended grace to each of them, even offering to wash their feet and all of them said no thanks, I’m good.
Just yesterday I thought how fortunate we were to have experienced their circle the wagons response, for if they had said we’re sorry, please stay we would have. Surely it wouldn’t have been long before they’d have gone back to their old narcissistic behaviors and treated us like trash once again. In hardening their hearts and allowing them to do their collective worst, the Father set us free from them and we knocked the dust from our feet and left. The grief I spoke of is for those who are so deaf, dumb and blind, who even call themselves Christians. I believe they are the ones about whom the Lord said Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; children will rise against their parents and have them put to death. Also and a person’s enemies will be those of his own household Mat10v21 and v36.
It occurs to me that on the surface and in the eyes of relatives, viciously persecuting those who choose to follow Christ has more to do with feeling betrayed by their own relatives – blood family. In so doing they elevate human blood, family tradition and rule, above the blood of Christ and the Word of God. Time and time again, around the table of fellowship where everyone claims to be Christian and bows their head in thanksgiving to Jesus, as soon as the word Amen is said, they turn to their pagan ways. Fornicators dining at the table. Those who habitually rail and revile others. Those who boast continually, shout, interrupt, etc. It’s a real flesh-fest. And the elder at the table often silences what the Holy Spirit has to say thereby quenching and grieving the Spirit. In a nutshell, the relatives abide by one set of rules for conduct at their churches and another code of conduct at the family home. What is so confusing is they do it all behind the smiling masks of their family clan love. We didn’t really see it until the Lord pulled their masks off.
About that, I can really appreciate what Paul said to the slaves about if you can obtain your freedom 1Corinthians 17v21 – for it can be very difficult to gain your freedom in this world. Perhaps the hardest place of slavery to secure your freedom from, is your own relatives who seem intent to prevent a person from leaving, changing, or walking away from their established family role(s). What strikes me is that in this world, everyone cleaves to something. The Father would have us cleave to Him and to our spouse. How many instead cleave to their offense, religion, tradition, blood relations – at the expense of walking with the Lord?
We need to get real about the offenses and the wounding, and discover how to move beyond all that. Otherwise the best we are able to do, where “entering in” is concerned, is some kind of Christianized religious white wash.
If it wasn’t clear in what I described above, the offense we caused with our relatives, is Christ – Christ in us, Christ lives through us and speaks through us (sometimes), was an offense to our relatives, who trashed us and cast us out. After which several of them tried to whitewash their actions, justify themselves, gas light us.
Thus to preserve and advance our relationship with Christ, we had to come apart from them, a real hindrance to our communing with the Lord – in the manner He requires and His apostles taught us. The Lord finally brought us around to the Nazareth response: knock the dust from your feet as a sign to them, and leave.
Whatever the hindrance to our joining Christ – to ‘entering in’ – should be put behind us. He said even to the man who wanted to join Christ but wanted first to attend to his dying father: “let the dead bury themselves”. His message therefore seems to be ‘do not bind yourself to death, but to life’ …
Thank you, Jack, for sharing your experiences here! The cost to follow Christ is great. But the rewards are even greater. :-) ❤︎