Your Spiritual Journey
Relationships
RELATIONSHIPS
People have all kids of physical differences: age, height, weight, skin color, eye and hair color. Then there are emotional variations, aptitudes, desires, experiences etc. that also contribute to the disparities in all of us. It’s even shown that identical twins have deviations ranging from slight to extreme. Combine all of that with the distractions such as social media, kids, job stresses, physical and mental ailments, etc., its no wonder relationships are difficult to form and even harder to maintain. You know who doesn’t have to juggle all these variables, robots. And as we all know, God made us humans not robots. So, how do we take all these divergences and find a way to not just get along with other people, but manage to establish lasting relationships?
Philippians 2:5 tells us that we need to “have the same mindset as Christ Jesus” – meaning that we put others needs ahead of our own “not looking to your own interests but to the interest of the others” (Phil 2:4). This doesn’t mean that we have to give up everything of ourselves just to relate to someone. Instead, we are to treat each other with respect and love each other all while knowing how much we should limit our contact with people who can be antagonistic.
Remember the Golden Rule – do to others as you would have them do to you? That’s pretty much the lesson Jesus taught us, boiled down to its simplest message. This applies to all relationships, not just romantic relationships, but your everyday relationships with friends and siblings and co-workers. We are even expected to extend that same approach to that cantankerous boss you can never seem to please or the nosy neighbor that is always in your business.
We all have things about us that can be hard to live with or be around, but when we love each other like Jesus taught us, life is that much sweeter and reminds us of what awaits us in Heaven.
James Passmore
