What is the ONE thing that you can take with you when you leave this earth? Not your money! Not your possessions!
Right Relationships For Life
But relationships, people that we are connected with in the gospel and in the Kingdom of God here on this earth, they are not going to end; we will take our relationship with us into heaven. Have you ever thought about it that way? Our relationships are very important!
Heb 13:15-16 By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name. But to do good and to communicate forget not: for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.
So, your first communication is with God. God wants you to talk to Him and to praise Him. He is not on an ego trip; He just knows that when you get your mind off from your problems and you start worshipping Him that he can work in your life. God never quits believing in you, no matter what is happening.
Then He talks about relationships with other people, with others around you, your family but also with other people around you. He tells us not to forget to communicate. Fellowship with one another.
God shows us in His word that we are in need of relationships. People can fail us, people sometimes don’t meet our expectations, sometimes people are rough around the edges, we need them, we need people and we need relationship around our life. No man is an island to himself. God created us with this need for relationships in our life.
You know, in the day we are living in it is sometimes hard for people to have relationships. People get real busy, they are busy in providing for their family and they are going from here to there and they feel that they don’t have time for relationships. But God wants to have relationships that can speak into our lives and receive from, but also relationships that we can give into. It is not always that we only can take from relationship; we have to give into relationships as well.
We live in a society right now that is very self-focused, self-centered; what is in it for me? If I can benefit from this relationship, I’ll be in it but if I don’t benefit than I am not in it. Some of your relationships are not going to be about you! Some of your relationships are going to be about other people.
We in a technological society, many people have learned to communicate through Facebook. I met some great people on facebook, but if we just rely on facebook and we have no other relationships around our life we can experience moments that we feel alone. It is very important that we make the effort that we not be alone, because the devil wants to take people out in this hour. When the devil can get people apart from other people that are able to speak into their lives, he can start speaking to them. He is a liar; he speaks lies and begins to convince them that they are not valuable or because of all these things, you might as well end your life. Those are lies. The enemy wants to destroy us. Jesus came to give us life! So, we have to make an effort to have relationships.
More than ever we need more than these on the surface relationships with people; we need to have some deep level communication. How do you find those relationships? First you have to be around people until you feel comfortable with being around them and you sense in your heart that they have a same heart for God and a same spirit of humility and desire for a relationship like you do. Then you will find people that can sharpen you, like iron sharpens iron.
You are around people until you locate those kind of people that you can open up with, we all need it.
There is a football player Brady James from Dallas Cowboys; he shared in his testimony how he had to break off wrong relationships in order to follow Jesus Christ. 1 Cor. 15:33 says “don’t be deceived, wrong relationships can corrupt good morals”. He saw that in his life, so he had to change his relationships in order to have relationships that were going to help him.
Let me close here with 4 Facts of the importance of right relatedness
1. It will protect and deliver you – 1 Corinthians 15:33 – “Do not be deceived: ‘Evil company corrupts good habits.’”
2. It will see us through hard times and give us the ability to then help others – 2
Corinthians 1:4 Message – “He comes alongside us when we go though hard times, and before you know it, he brings us alongside someone else who is going through hard times so that we can be there for that person just as God was there for us.”
3. It will provide accountability in our lives.
4. It will help us get past hurts and forgive others and be reconciled where there have been broken relationships – Matthew 18:15-20, Isaiah 1:18.
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