Relationships
May 18, 2020
People are relational beings! We are made to be in relationships with others. In fact when God created mankind, he quickly observed that it was not good for man to be alone.
Genesis 2:18 (NLT)
Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper who is just right for him.”
Matthew 22:37,39-40 (MSG)
37-40 Jesus said, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your passion and prayer and intelligence.’ This is the most important, the first on any list. But there is a second to set alongside it: ‘Love others as well as you love yourself.’ These two commands are pegs; everything in God’s Law and the Prophets hangs from them.”
We need dual dimensions of relationships in our lives: vertical (with God) and horizontal (with other people).
Usually your biggest relational challenges are with the horizontal connections in your life.
Trying to obey God and love people when they do not love you can be especially difficult.
Examples of failed relationships:
1. Adam and Eve: He blamed her, she blamed the serpent, they ultimately
blamed God
2. Cain and Able: Cain killed Able
We should live out our relationships based on our vertical connection with a loving God: He loves, forgives and blesses us and that is how we should treat our horizontal relationships as well.
Good relationships are vital in every area of your life!
1. Do you have a new job that requires you to have more relationships skills than you have had in the past?
2. Are you at a crossroads or crisis in your life because a relationship has or is falling apart?
3. Are you looking at a whole new future because of a new relationship you are in?
You have some kind of relationship with everyone you encounter. Some relationships are extremely personal and some are strictly professional. Some are casual and on the surface and some intimate and deep. But every relationship you have influences your life!
There are no neutral relationships! Each one lifts you up or weighs you down. It moves you forward or holds you back. It helps or hurts you!
Almost every major problem or set back in your life is connected to a relationship- or stems from relational challenges. – conflict at work, love less marriages, etc.
“Who you hang out with determines what you dream about and what you collide with. And the collisions and dreams lead to your changes. And your changes are what you become. Change the outcome by changing your circle.”
-Seth Godin
Relationships can be the source of our greatest joy or our place of greatest pain. Emotional ache is often times more painful than physical pain.
We simply need to know what makes a relationship healthy and what makes it toxic. We have to learn to identify the warning signs of a relationship that is in trouble and gain the ability to leave it wisely, at the right time and for the right reasons.
We need to access people not for the purposes of being judgmental, but for the greater purpose of recognizing the people God has called us to walk closely with on the amazing journey he has planned for our lives.
We need to lovingly undertake the important task of evaluating a person’s character so we will know if we should allow deep relationship, keep the acquaintance casual or avoid the relationship all together.
We are where we are in life today because of relationships- either successful ones or not so successful-
The purpose of relationships is to add value to people’s lives and to help each person or entity involved contribute to the other in positive, life-building ways. Any relationship that pulls us away from God, His Word or His plan for our lives must be put aside.
Proverbs 27:17 (NLT)
“As iron sharpens iron, so a friend sharpens a friend.”
Proverbs 13:20 (MSG)
“Become wise by walking with the wise; hang out with fools and watch your life fall to pieces.”
The person who knows the most about relationships is God. He wrote the book on it! he has all of the answers and the direction we need to be successful in our relationship.
Healthy relationships start with you! The law of being real.
If you pretend to be anyone other than yourself, you will not be able to enjoy genuine, authentic relationships. You have to first know yourself, be honest about yourself and your true self with others.
In order to find those qualities in others, you must first find them in yourself.
To find good character in others you have to first find and develop it in yourself. if you want others to be truthful with you you have to first be truthful- saying you will show up at a certain time and then showing up late, etc.
It’s time to get back to your first love- let him revel himself to you and you will find yourself in him.
Minister Ty