Dave’s Monday Blast – May 9, 2016
Last week I began to unpack the last session by Josh McDowell from our annual Men’s Retreat. His presentation was entitled “The 7 A’s of Relationships”. I do encourage you to go to josh.org to view this entire presentation. It is broken into seven 3-4 minute videos. Using their search feature…simply type in the title.
Josh was clear that these principles apply to any and every relationship we can possibly have…sacred or secular, personal or business. Last week we looked at the first 3 A’s.
In summary: We are all created in God’s image and this means that each of us have infinite value, dignity and worth.
- Affirmation – providing a sense of emotional authenticity in any relationship.
- Acceptance –providing a sense of security to any relationship.
- Appreciation –providing a sense of significance to any relationship.
For this week:
- Availability – providing a sense of importance. The greatest gift we can give to any relationship is the gift of time. With increased intimacy comes trust, which in turn creates an environment that says, “You are free to try…free to fail”.
- Affection– providing a sense of being loved. In John 15:12we read, “This is my commandment, that you love on another, just as I have loved you.” Two ideas are expressed here; we must must INTENTIONALLY demonstrate affection in both verbal and appropriate physical ways. No one should ever wonder if they are truly loved by you or the Father!
- Approach – providing a sense of connection to any relationship. Think about it…our God entered into our world…giving up His position in the heavenly realm just so He could make a personal, intimate connection with all of humanity (Philippians 2:5-11).In light of His sacrifice, we certainly can give up more of ourselves. Entering the world of another affirms that they have infinite value, dignity and worth; personal investment cannot be overstated.
The last A is accountability. I want to unpack that idea in a bit more detail next week.
Your assignment this week, relative to our theme of “Mission Possible” (if you choose to accept it), is to make yourself available and approach your important relationships with Godly affection.
