How Are Your Relationships With Others?

Probably one of the most difficult things that we can face as growing Christians, as men and women trying to figure out what it means to grow in Christ, is self-examination. We pray for God’s salvation, we pray for his forgiveness, his grace, his mercy, and when it comes, it sure is AWESOME isn’t it? We want to tell everyone we know. We want to see our family members saved, our friends, the people we work with, the people we walk past on the street…we can’t help but leak Jesus everywhere we go. That’s GREAT, but amidst the celebration, we can easily lose sight of ourselves and the changes God wants to make in our lives.

God has this amazing plan for your life. He wants to grow you. He wants to bless you. He wants to change the world through you. And it’s EXCITING! It’s AWESOME! BUT…it’s HIS plan for YOU. Too often we see our plan, our direction, our purpose, and we try to push it on others. We see how God has changed us, or at least started to, and so we try to change those around us. We see their problems, their hurts, their bad decisions, and we try to fix them because we know a BETTER way, we have a BETTER plan.

God wants to change YOU.
God will change THEM.
God saved YOU.
God will save THEM.
God has a plan for YOU.
God has a plan for THEM.
God is God, you are not, I am not.

Jesus says to take the log out of your eye. Jesus says look in the mirror. Jesus says take care of you first, THEN, he’ll use you to help others. Maybe you need to forgive. Maybe you need to apologize. I don’t know what you need to do because we’re all different, your story is not my story and vice versa; however, I do know this, you and I need to acknowledge and admit our part in the relationship (what’s been done to US; what we’ve done to OTHERS). We need to forgive ourselves AND forgive others.
Jesus prayed for us to be forgiven as we forgive others (Matthew 6:12). If you were to be forgiven as you forgive others, would you be forgiven?

That’s tough. That hurts. That’s not easy to get over. If you’re still holding on to unforgiveness, ask yourself why. Get to the root of it. If you’re unable to let go of the pain in your past, it’ll continue eating away at you, putting the brakes on growth, keeping freedom just out of reach.

So, who’s hurt you? Who are you holding a grudge against? Are you consumed with thoughts of revenge? Are you jealous? Are you critical? Do you gossip? Are you blaming others for YOUR behaviors? Who have you hurt?

Own your part. Answer the difficult questions. Be set free from the bondage of bitterness, envy, and hate. God sent his son, Jesus Christ, to die on a cross FOR YOU in order to have a relationship WITH YOU.

How are your relationships with others?