Relationships matter

Last week we were talking about how important it is that we love one another. God is love and His love finds its full expression in us 1 John 4:11-13. Not when we love Him but when we love one another, I find that beautiful. Sometimes it is easy to love God because He is perfect but we struggle to love the ones around us because sometimes their imperfections stare us in the face and challenge us. Some people’s imperfections may even cause us pain and trauma. But, we are to love them all the same. 

God created us for relationship. We find this in Genesis when He created the first human being, Adam. Genesis 1:26-28 tells us that God created them, male and female. So both male and female existed in Adam. When God created the world, He noted to Himself that everything He created was good. However, after observing Adam for a little while God said that, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him,” Genesis 2:18. I’m sure all us single people are familiar with that verse but that’s a chat for another day, lol.  The word for “man” in the verse is the Hebrew word “Adam” which means mankind or human being.

What I want us to see is that God, the Creator of the heavens and the earth noted one thing which wasn’t good at a time before even sin entered the world and that was mankind being alone. This was at a time when Adam probably didn’t even know loneliness as He walked with God and talked with God everyday. The one thing that was missing was a companion for Adam. Someone who may not have looked like him but was going to be good for him. 

We were created for relationship, not only with God. Our relationship with God is important but if that was all we needed God would never have said that it wasn’t good for Adam to be alone. God knows more than we do and in His infinite wisdom He made sure it was recorded in the Bible that it is not good for man (human beings) to be alone. 

Don’t worry, I see the irony of this message even as I write it because the world is in some form of lockdown and we some are in isolation or quarantine. We have to follow what our leaders are asking us to do but we must never isolate ourselves emotionally. Physically we can’t hug each other or meet up for coffee but as far as I am aware the internet is not broken and we still have electricity so let us stay connected with one another. Let us love each other all the way through physical isolation and maintain the relationships that matter. 

If you went ahead and listened to the message I recommended last week, you already know the importance right relationships. This is a good time to reflect on the people we have in our lives and make sure we maintain the right relationships. If there are people that have been getting in the way of what God is trying to do with our lives, perhaps now is a good time to re-evaluate the friendships and relationships we want to keep so that we work on those during this season. Just because you are not friends with someone or cannot be in a close relationship where they influence your life does not mean you stop loving them. We keep loving each other even if we have to let go of each other. 

Relationships are important, they can make or break us. We have to involve God and make Him the centre of every relationship so He can help us foster healthy God-filled relationships. We are all broken in some ways and none of us are perfect. It takes God, and godly love to keep us in relationship with each other. 

Love and blessings

Melissa Tsingano.