|
“And the most important piece of clothing you must wear is love. Love is what binds us all together in perfect harmony.” (Colossians 3:14)
God wants us to experience secure, fulfilling and lasting relationships.
That transformation involves some common issues we must all work through to rebuild relationships. If we fail to deal with broken relationships biblically, we may pass these relational sins to future generations. One of the biggest problems is feeling offended.
“You must make allowances for each other’s faults and forgive the person who offends you.” Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others even when they treat you unjustly. Colossians 3:13
If we don’t properly deal with offense through forgiveness, roots of bitterness grow and destroy relationships.
“Look after each other so that none of you will miss out on the special favor of God. Watch out that no bitter root of unbelief rises up among you, for whenever it springs up, many are corrupted by its poison” Hebrews 12:15
You can guard your heart from the poisonous sin by being quick forgive those who offended you! Rebellion, possibly the most serious relational sin, involves more than being independent or strong-minded. In scripture, rebellion is compared to the sin of divination or witchcraft (1 Samuel 15:23). Everyone must learn to relate to authority figures. In the Bible, most rebels came to a violent end. The quicker we confess the rebellion in our hearts, the better our relationships will be. As long as a person rebels, he or she closes the door to forgiveness and restoration with God and with people. One of the most heartbreaking requests in our prayer center is for broken family relationships. The story of Joseph in Genesis 30-50 illustrates how favoritism, selfishness and unfaithfulness can destroy family relationships. When his brothers saw that their father loved Joseph more than any of them, they hated him and could not speak a kind word to him. Joseph didn’t rebel against God or authority, but yielded to God’s plan through his terrible, unfair ordeal. His broken family eventually reunited as Joseph saved the lives of the brothers who had betrayed him and God miraculously restored their relationships. Since family is God’s idea, we must make the restoration of family relationships our top priority. God can work to bring healing to families when we choose to deal with all offense, unforgiveness and rebellion. If you do all these things and still experience rejection in relationships, you can be comforted by identifying with Christ’s suffering. “He was in the world, the world was there through him, and yet the world didn't even notice. He came to his own people, but they didn't want him” (John 1:10-11, The Message).
Jesus was so secure in His relationship with his Father that human rejection did not influence His treatment of others. Like Jesus, we must not allow rejection to harden our hearts and affect our behavior in relationships. Paul gives us the remedy in Ephesians 5:2. He encourages us to live a life filled with love for others, following the example of Christ, who loves us and gave Himself as a sacrifice to take away our sins. God was pleased in His Son and His sacrifice was like “sweet perfume.” Don’t pass on relational sins to the next generation. Examine your attitudes toward God and others and then take quick action to resolve them as soon as possible (Matthew 5:23, 34).
Prayer
|
