Weekly Musing - Dr. Kay Fairchild

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN TRANSACTIONAL AND RELATIONAL:

Anytime we put an ‘IF’ on a sentence as: ‘IF I do a certain thing, I will be blessed’ that is a transactional statement. Did you know that there are many ‘if statements’ even in the gospels and New Testament? For example, ‘if you don’t forgive others, you won’t be forgiven’. Why did the gospel writers pen those words? Because their awareness was still influenced by law and legalism. The law was still in operation at this time. Sadly, many today still base their faith on a legal transaction. They believe that IF they do certain things they will receive blessings (which are already theirs) for their ‘doing’. However the truth of the matter is, that we have already been (objectively and spiritually) given ALL THINGS pertaining to life and godliness. The ‘all things’ are released to us manifestly on a relational basis, as we are aware that all things are ours. When we walk in the realization of Oneness where ‘all in all’ is concerned, we see that not only do we have all things, but we ARE those things. For example, we are health personified! We are wealth personified! We are all things of the kingdom personified! We lack nothing whatsoever.

The church is full of people living by transactional law rather than realizing their relational Oneness. This is precisely why people get angry and often give up, due to misunderstanding the difference. Now, certainly we are to ‘give’ but not simply to ‘get’. We give because of WHO WE ARE, rather than because we want to receive what we think we don’t have. There are many doctrines in the church based upon transactional law. I will list just a few. The ‘rapture’ is based upon being good enough to get to go. Eternal conscious torment is based on whether we lived a ‘good’ life or a ‘bad’ life. A literal coming of the Lord is based upon him coming back setting things straight, based on a transaction.

Religion says it’s all contingent upon ‘doing’ or ‘not doing’ certain things which qualify or disqualify people. However, the eternal agreement is not transactional, but it is based upon our Fathers love and grace. Let us realize that as the father said to the older brother of the prodigal: ‘ALL THINGS ARE ALREADY YOURS. ??