Welcome to 10 minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life.

In the time it takes to get to work. I'm Patrick Miller.

There's an economy to relationships. We all hate to admit it, but it's kind of true. We give more to

those who give to us and less to those who give us less. Now, of course,

sometimes we're generous and we give of ourselves to those who give us nothing. Everybody does that

at some points. But when you have a friend who only takes, you know, they only take time, they only

take service, they just take, take, take, you eventually feel burned. And you say, you know,

she's so selfish, I just can't

take it anymore. Of course, the inverse is also true. When someone is extraordinarily generous with you,

when they're generous with their time, their hospitality, their resources, their connections,

well, you often find yourself wanting to give that person more as well. Think of a mentor

who gave of himself or herself to give you the chance to learn, to start a new job, to meet

someone new, to grow in your faith, to grow in wisdom. If that person called you tomorrow and

asked you for a favor, you'd think, well, of course I'll help you. You've done so

much for me. How could I tell you no? But Jesus seemed to do things somewhat differently than how we do

things. He told us to love our enemies, bless those who persecute us. He told us to show hospitality

to those who cannot show us hospitality in return.

It seems like the relational economics of his kingdom operate differently than the way the

relational economics of the world operate.

And it's obvious that they operate differently, not just because he says so, like he's the

king and so you do what he says. No, relational economics operate differently in not just because he says so, like he's the king and so you do what he says.

No, relational economics operate differently in his kingdom because Jesus operates differently than

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