Recently my husband was away for work for quite a while. In that time I hunkered down and asked God what He wanted me to hear Him on while my hunny was away. God didn’t delay. He brought several things to my mind that all had one important aspect. Relationships. Mine with Him and mine with others. I thought of struggles with family & friends and even Jesus’ relationship with the Father.
I thought of Jesus and how he loved the un-loveable. I thought of the stories in the gospel how He spent time w His followers and w the Father. I thought how to keep peace in my relationships? (At least at my end).
For me, it starts through being humble as well as knowing who we are in Christ and having our relationship w Him as the example. That's a pretty big example. It’s really like the “golden rule” do good to others etc. but w Christ we have to accept those who don’t do us good (Matt 5:43-48). Do I really pray for those who hurt me? Do I really love and forgive those who are angry at me and ignore me? Do I really let it go and choose peace and love instead of the attitude of “I’m right” or talk & think negatively about them while letting strife and bitterness take root? We are to put on the same attitude of Christ Jesus (Phil 2:5). That's a pretty tall order but doable!
If I want my end of the relationship to stay in peace then I have to choose to do as Christ did. It may sound hard and my human feelings go against everything in me but He didn’t leave us hanging. We are told in the bible that walking in the flesh reaps things of the flesh but walking in the spirit reaps of the spirit (Gal 6:7). I’m learning to choose the Spirit. Jesus left us a helper, His Holy Spirit. He even said it’s better for US if He goes so the Spirit can come (John 16:7). How awesome is that!
We need to learn who the Holy Spirit is and have a relationship with Him to help us through the times of loving, forgiving and accepting those in our lives who we have relationships with. Mind you it's not easy but with Christ all things are possible (Matt 19:26). Also, God gives us grace (2 CO 12:9) and He knows it’s a process for us and all He asks for is one day at a time (Matt 6:34). It’s not rocket science and it CAN be done. Through the grace God gives us, we need to extend that grace to other’s as well as ourselves. And remember, “I can do ALL (forgiving, loving, accepting) things through Christ who strengthens me” (Phil 4:13).
For real. Jesus was God in the flesh and could do NOTHING apart from the Father. His connection to the Father was through the Holy Spirit. If God in the flesh was that dependent on submission to the Father, how much more do we need to be continually filled with the Spirit :)
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