Today, I want to challenge you to commit to the future of your relationships. We live in a world where everything seems to be temporary or disposable, exchangeable or recyclable. Living in eternal life, we should be building "something that will last forever". Many things about the world we live in have been turned about from the way they are meant to be - the way they were designed.
Think about Marriage: the vows made in the wedding service are quite daunting, and the marriage contract is broken much more than the mortgage contract. How many marriages last more than 10 years? What can we do to help people protect their marriages - to make the commitment stronger to each other?
Think about Friendship: we can take on new friends and "un-friending" is a new verb for the Facebook generation when old friends are no longer considered friends. Are you committed to the relationships with your friends and family? Is there a friend we have ignored for a long time - or some catching up we need to do?
Think about Fellowship: we are "brothers and sisters in Christ" - how committed are we to the relationships of our church family? Do we tell the truth in love? Do we bear with our brothers and sisters when they wind us up? Do we wind others up by our hard heart or narrow view? Do we put the needs of others before ourselves? Are we prepared to stick with our church family through thick and thin, in good times and in bad?
Then he said to them all: ‘Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it. What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit their very self? Luke 9: 23-25 [NIV]
Lord, help us to be committed in our relationships with those around us. Keep us from selfishness, pride, arrogance and greed which can damage our relationships. Amen
Dave MacLellan
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