A Christian philosophy of ministry starts with Jesus—not with the person you’re trying to build a relationship with. Don’t go to another human being expecting to find satisfaction, joy, or peace of mind. Other people can’t give you what only God can. Before you try to strengthen your relationships with your spouse, children, neighbors, friends, church family, coworkers, or anyone else, you need to go to Jesus alone, just you and him. This is why the first principle of CPR is “full satisfaction, identification, and safety in Christ alone.”
The second principle of CPR helps us understand the place other people hold in our lives in relation to God's place. God must always be first—in our affections, love, enjoyment, and everything else. Then, far below him, there is a place and a need for other people. The gap in value and importance between God and the next person on our list should be enormous. Jesus illustrated this when he said, "If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple" (Luke 14:26).
Jesus wasn’t speaking literally, as other parts of Scripture command us to love our families (Ephesians 5:25, for example). He was speaking metaphorically, stressing the vast difference between our love for God and our relationships with others. We need Christ for everything, but we don’t need other people in that ultimate way. Only Christ has "the words of eternal life" (John 6:68). Other people cannot give us eternal life or sustained joy. Only God can truly nourish our souls. While others can add goodness to our lives, God alone is our eternal Goodness.
If God alone is our ultimate need, then why should we care about relationships with others? The most obvious answer: because God commands us to care about them. He loves them, and he calls us to love them on his behalf and for his glory. This command is so serious that if we choose not to love others, we cannot claim to love God. "If anyone says, 'I love God,' and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen" (1 John 4:20).
Additionally, God teaches that "it is not good that the man should be alone" (Genesis 2:18). He made us social beings, reflecting his own inherent relational nature as the Trinity. Therefore, loving others is part of God's design for humanity.
When we consider all of Scripture’s teachings, we see this conclusion: God is of greatest value and importance, and we must love him above all, finding our joy and satisfaction in him alone. Then, God sends us to others, calling us to serve them for his glory. People are not primary but secondary; they fill a social need, not an ultimate one.
For example, my goal is to be fully satisfied in Christ. Then, if Christ sends me to marry, I’ll need a spouse to fulfill that command. While I don’t need her ultimately, I do need her secondarily and socially. Christ is first, she is second, and my mission is to serve her on behalf of Christ (see CPR #4 especially). I am not to see what I can get from her, since Christ supplies all my needs.
These truths set the pattern for all our relationships. By putting God absolutely first in your mind, heart, and affections, and trusting him fully in real time, you are enabled to go to others on his behalf, serving and loving them for his glory. But if you elevate others above God, you will rely on them for what only God can provide, inevitably leading to disappointment. There is only one God, and others cannot function as our God or fulfill needs that only he can supply.
Of course, there are many aspects of CPR #2 that need further reflection. Each Christian will need to explore these in their own journey. But for this brief post, consider these additional verses, alongside those already quoted, that reinforce the heart of CPR #2.
Jeremiah 17:5-7 Thus says the Lord: 'Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength... Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord.'
Psalm 118:8 It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in man.
Proverbs 29:25 The fear of man lays a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is safe.
Matthew 10:37 Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me...
1 Thessalonians 2:4 But just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, not to please man, but to please God who tests our hearts.
Galatians 1:10 For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? ... If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.
Psalm 146:3 Put not your trust in princes, in a son of man, in whom there is no salvation.
John 5:44 How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God?
Isaiah 2:22 Stop regarding man in whose nostrils is breath, for of what account is he?
Psalm 73:25 Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.