Getting Along

 Relationships can be a major problem in our lives. It seems that many, if not most, of us are deficient in the skills needed to cultivate good relationships with family and friends. This causes a huge void in our life, because we all need friends, and it makes our families so much better when we get along well. The Lord inspired Paul to give us some excellent guidance about getting along in the closing chapters of Romans. (Romans 14:19) Let me share just a couple of very important relational truths from the Word of God.

It takes a lot of energy to get along with each other. We need to decide to expend all the energy it takes because God says it should be a priority. Doing anything less is a sin. However, some of us just live the way we want to live, and we do not care about others, unless they do what we want. If they fail to please us, we burn that relationship bridge, and move on to someone else. That doesn't last long, since they will fail in the same way at some point. See how this complicates our life? Instead, we should always help each other with encouraging words. We should set our hearts on building up others, not on having our needs met by them. At the same time we should never drag each other down by finding fault. Remember, whenever we criticize each other, we are really criticizing ourselves, since we all have the same basic flaws, See what I mean? That is a great guide to good relationships. Put energy into getting along by encouraging each other and not finding fault.

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Tomorrow, I intend to read Romans 15-16 and I Corinthians 1.