Reflections
John 3:27
John answered and said, A man can receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven.
This statement by John is a basic principle. Our relationship with God must be FIRST, and it will determine our relationship with everyone else. And the fact is, this is going to happen whether we realize it or not.
This relationship between God and ourselves, and then, between ourselves and others, could be pictured in the following way: The basis for everything is our personal, one-on-one, VERTICAL relationship with God. God gives us all things freely from Himself down to us VERTICALLY. But then, because of this, we are able to have HORIZONTAL relationships with others as the outcome of our VERTICAL relationship with God.
Of course, this is just a mechanical way of saying that we, as individuals, are to live from out of the Christ who dwells in us – we are to live from out of Him towards others. He is the Vine and the rest of us are branches. How we abide in Him personally will impact our relationship with the other branches. If we have freely received, freely give.
This also gives us direction. We love others because we see God loves us. We forgive others because God has forgiven us. A person has nothing of value except if first be received from God. Only then can we freely give to others.