One of the primary desires of all Christians is to communicate the love of Jesus with others. However, in typical human fashion, we tend to skip some important steps in this process of communication in an effort to reach the joy of the end result.
In his book, Communication Theory for Christian Witness, Charles Kraft says that it is helpful to think of the process of communicating the love and truth of God like a bridge. This bridge is anchored in a relationship with Jesus at one side and connected to our human communities at the other side. It does not matter if one side of the bridge is beautifully built...if the bridge is not fully connected on both sides, true communication will not happen.
Many of us (including myself) sometimes have the tendency to skip the step of building intimacy with Jesus so that we can hurry up and reach people with His truth. However, how are we to successfully cross the bridge without carrying with us the wisdom that only comes from a deeper relationship with Jesus?
While it is important to remember not to seek intimacy with the Lord simply for the sake of fulfilling the Great Commission, desiring to obey Him should be an overflow of our love for Him. God loves people and wants to express that love for us all. We, as Christians, have the unique privilege of being living witnesses of this great love. Let’s imitate Christ, seek out time to listen to Him, and connect with His love for people.