Help for our relationships: Part 1

What would life be like if we didn’t get on with people? It would be difficult,and quite a challenge .. maybe a few thoughts might help this morning. I think everyone needs help in this area of life,because we rub shoulders with others all the time.

What are Relationships? Relationships are those areas of life where you and I probably struggle with the greatest highs and also the greatest lows of life. 1 Corinthians 13:13 says “And now these three remain: faith,hope and love. But the greatest of these is love”.

Well,what’s love got to do with it? The answer of course – is “Everything”.   The greatest experiences,the greatest thrills,the greatest joys that have come into your life and mine have come as a result of relationships and through love. Yet there’s also the other side. There’s also those incredible lows that are expressed in the Bible in Galatians 5:15 -“If you go on hurting each other and tearing each other apart,be careful or you will completely destroy each other.” Challenging words,and it can happen so easily. How many times have friendships been torn apart by hurtful words?

So what do you do when things aren’t going well?  What do you do when you’re faced with frustration,or when you’re overwhelmed by hurt or anger,or when you’re filled with apathy and you just don’t care any more?    Fortunately,God in His word,gives us some advice… how to get through the tough days when our relationships are going from bad to worse..
WHY NOT THANK GOD FOR OUR DIFFERENCES

Some of the greatest frustration that we face in relationships – and most of these are in the area of male/female relationships – are because we are different. Not just physically,but also emotionally and spiritually. We think and work differently.  We even shop differently. We even watch television differently! And we also get frustrated by the difference,don’t we?

But God had a purpose in making men and women different – and it was not to frustrate us but to complete us. In happy marriages,your wife or husband can give you ideas and suggestions that you  would never have thought of yourself -and that helps us mature .. One of the greatest moral choices we’ll ever make is to thank God for our differences. That’s one of the things that makes relationships work. The apostle Paul,in his letter to the Romans 15:7 – says –  “Accept one another then,just as Christ accepted you,” .. why? To bring praise to God. When I accept you as different,  the Bible says that brings praise to God. Why? Because He made us to be different.. 

Well,how about those times when it’s not the differences  that frustrating you but the disappointments –  the faults of the other person!. What do you do then? 

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YOU GO TO GOD WITH YOUR DISAPPOINTMENTS
Ephesians 4:2,-says -“Be patient with each other,making allowance for each other’s faults because of your love.” That’s what love does – it  makes allowances for somebody else’s faults. Notice it doesn’t say,”make excuses for somebody else’s faults.” Making allowance for somebody else’s faults means you recognize that it takes time and patience for them and for us to grow. So when you’re disappointed in a relationship,the best thing to do is to go to God with your disappointments.

I wonder how many of us are disappointed in our relationships because we actually have an unrealistic view of relationships?  We think they ought to be perfect!  We think the other person ought to be perfect!