Originally published on February 25, 2015.
“Imagine the sheer delight of enjoying perfect relationships with two others with no fear of things turning sour, a community of three cut from the same fabric yet unmistakably distinct. Imagine three who, without a hint of competitiveness, are absolutely thrilled with the opportunity to display their special glory.”
This is the way, Larry Crabb describes the way the Trinity lives together in a beautiful relationship with one another. And then…they invite us – mere human beings into their absolutely life giving relationship. Jesus says, “Come on. Unite intimately with me so that we are as one. Share my spot in this profound and almost incomprehensible relationship!”
Because of this one-ness now the Father looks at us and sees the image of the one he is making us to reflect…the image of His Son. This is the Son he has been enjoying and delighting in from all eternity. Now we get to enjoy being that object of sheer delight.
This relationship, if truly understood, breathes life and vibrancy into our very soul. A pastor I know often says that for humans the two most core desires of our heart are to be completely and totally known (with nothing hidden) and then in that knowing – to be completely and totally loved and delighted in. Not the kind of love that puts up with us grudgingly (can we call that love?). But the kind of love that spills out in overflowing joy like a magnet drawing us into His presence and then shaping us increasingly into his image and likeness. This is the love that we find in the God-head and are meant to experience through human people who are united with Him already.
While human beings and human relationships are marred by the effects of the Fall, I truly believe that as we enter into the life-giving community of relationships that exist in the Trinity, we can and are called to be a human community that also has this life-giving and restorative effect in the lives that we come into contact with. Others should feel in our presence a safety in being fully known, and in that knowing experience delighted and redeeming love pouring from our lives into theirs. In another excerpt from Connecting (By Larry Crabb) he speaks of the transformative power that exists as human beings function as conduits of Christ’s life-giving and transformative presence in the lives of others.
“[These] people can see the hidden life that is already poured into another by God and, with an awareness of the life they have received from the same source, they pour out what is deepest and truest and noblest within them into the soul of another; and they do it with a clear vision of what that other person could become as the life of Christ is nourished and released within."
Our desire as a 2nd Mile community is that we each (and together) would first bask and soak in the brilliant restorative community of the Godhead. As we enjoy rich communion with the Lord, our desire is that we would be powerful facilitators of redemption and growth for each other. Finally, that we together would pursue and invite others who are not part of this flourishing, life-giving community already in so that they too may experience the wonder, delight, transformation and LIFE that Christ desires.