REALationships...

Let’s talk about this thing called “Relationships”. From the words of a wise man “Why can’t we all just get along?” A group of us men were talking about this very issue this morning. If we could get to the point of walking in Jesus’ footsteps on a daily basis think how much further we would be in our own personal faith but think of where we would be as a; I hate to use the term Religion but as a body of believers in Christ. When we go throughout our day not showing the true Christ through our walk who is getting the glory? You are. Here is the kicker with this or the problem I have with this, we as believers are faithful to those who stroke us and tell us how we are appreciated and like recognition for the “works” that we have done or are doing. Again I say who is getting the glory for that? Not God! We are to be living our lives and in everything we do it is to be giving Him the glory. I have heard growing up that God is a jealous God. As I have gotten older I understand what that means. It’s not a bad thing, after all he created us. Why can’t we give him credit for our life as we go throughout our day? I can tell you this is something that God has been dealing with me on lately. My wife laughed at me the other day, a problem came up and it was something that I wanted God to know that I was concerned about and I said “Look Buddy, I need you to help me through this and only you can do it”. I am learning to just talk to God. Throughout the day I have learned and I am still learning to just talk to God. You may call your spouse, family, or a friend throughout the day just to talk. We should be able to do the same thing with God and honestly I feel that is all He is wanting from us. He created us to worship Him and seek Him and through this time in my life I am learning to do just that. It was hard to do at first, to just say to myself, instead of saying something under my breath that I shouldn’t be saying anyway and I have made a conscious effort to take that and talk to God about it. What I noticed has been such an uplifting experience. It has helped me to deal with the issues as they come up. I have been praying for wisdom daily, and feel that God has been doing just that. I have tried to have an open relationship with my God. I have included Him into areas of my life that I know He has been just waiting for me to invite Him to be a part of.
Now, let’s take that to the next step with the relationships of our friend and families. Are you perfect? Then why do we expect our relationship to be perfect with our friends and our families. Someone is going to make you mad. Someone is going to upset you or do something a way that you don’t like. You know what? That’s OK! Forgive, because let me tell you something you are going to do something to them to hurt them the same way. Maybe on purpose maybe not but how can we live our lives so wrapped up waiting for the next thing to bother or upset us. Let me tell you something else. That is a distraction from you keeping your eyes on God. Let me clear this up I am preaching to myself the whole time I am saying this stuff. Moving on… Here is the key to all of this, are you ready? It is called communication. Open communication. And sometimes just like with God you need to be ready to hear something that is going to hurt your feelings. No pain, no gain right? Personally I try to make people happy. I don’t like knowing that I have hurt someone but I know that it going to happen. I had a conversation with someone once. They were hurt by a church and they were ready to leave the church. I told them that they needed to talk to that person involved with that church to see what they might have meant by what was done or said. My friend said but I don’t want to be a part of something that is like this. This is not the way church is supposed to be. I asked my friend, what happens when they have a misunderstanding with their spouse? Are you ready to just give up on them walk away from the time and effort that you have put into that relationship? Of course not! You have made a commitment to that person and you talk to them about the issue to get it resolved. The issue comes back to the three “C’s”. 1. Commitment
2. Communication
3. Care
So I said, why would we be ready to just give up and walk away from the commitment you have made to God in serving this particular body? Sometimes we need to be reminded of that when it comes to serving our church or our job, that we have made a commitment to be there. If we don’t give it our all then we are letting God be seen in a light that He might not be proud of. Remember it’s not just your name that you represent, it is God’s! That has to be one of the toughest things to remember. We may be the only Christ that a person might see.
I think with these 3 things you should be able to have a “realationship”. So let’s recap for a minute. If you have open communication, if you have made a commitment, and if you continue to care for this relationship it will grow. Family, friend, or God all different areas of our relationships it can work.
Love you all, Kristian