BUILDING GODLY RELATIONSHIPS

God designed us to enjoy the relationships he has provided. Relationships are important for our spiritual growth, and they are God’s gift of kindness to us as he works his purpose out for our lives. Persons are drawn to us by what they see and hear.

For any job or profession we are engaged in we need to be equipped with reliable tools for the task at hand. Our relational tools are provided by the master builder and we just have to appropriate them to our daily lives so we can move forward in building great relationships with each other.

NECESSARY TOOLS: 

LOVE

Love for God and man. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength

Matt 19:19; Matt 22:37; Matt: 5:43-48

JOY

This joy is not limited to our circumstances, it will endure inspite of

Do not grieve, for the joy of the LORD is your strength.”

Nehemiah 8:10b

PEACE

Seek to live at peace with all men

The peace that passes all understanding

Romans 12:18; Philippians 4:7

LONG-SUFFERING

Longsuffering is simply the determination never to give up, never to give in and never to let go

James 1:3-4; John 16:33

GENTLENESS

Gentleness could be seen as the character that will show calmness, personal care, tenderness and the Love of Christ in meeting the needs of others

Titus 3:2. James 3:17

FAITH

Believing that the impossible is a “walk over” with God.

Hebrews 11:1

MEEKNESS

Be willing to put self in second place and submit yourself to achieve what is good for others.

Matthew 5:5

SELF-CONTROL

We should be able to restrain our actions, feelings, emotions and our behaviour

Proverbs 5:28; 1 Corinthians 10:13; 2 Peter 1:5-7

You may recognize that these useful tools are the fruit of the Spirit as outlined in Galatians 5:22-23. As we acquire these tools through the working of the Holy Spirit we will be better able to work on building great relationships.

In order to use these relational tools effectively we should determine what has been causing us more harm than good in our relationships or have prevented us building great ones.

Here are some questions we could ask ourselves.

•       Is there something about me that is obnoxious to others?
•       Do I need to change something about me?
•       Am I self-disciplined?
•       Am I hot tempered?
•       Do I carry a grudge?
•      Am I violently angry?
•      Am I self-centered?
•       Am I selfish and stubborn?
•      Am I slow on loyalty?
•       Am I a revengeful person?
•       Am I good listener?

May by God’s grace we begin to bear fruit of the Spirit as we create harmony in our Church, homes, workplace or school.

Prayer: Father I pray that we will by your strength renew our minds daily and grow in love for you and for each other