Owning Your Relationships...
Romans 12:9-20 (Amplified Bible)
9) [Let your] love be sincere (a real thing); hate what is evil [loathe all ungodliness, turn in horror from wickedness], but hold fast to that which is good.
10) Love one another with brotherly affection [as members of one family], giving precedence and showing honor to one another.
11) Never lag in zeal and in earnest endeavor; be aglow and burning with the Spirit, serving the Lord.
12) Rejoice and exult in hope; be steadfast and patient in suffering and tribulation; be constant in prayer.
13) Contribute to the needs of God's people [sharing in the necessities of the saints]; pursue the practice of hospitality.
14) Bless those who persecute you [who are cruel in their attitude toward you]; bless and do not curse them.
15) Rejoice with those who rejoice [sharing others' joy], and weep with those who weep [sharing others' grief].
16) Live in harmony with one another; do not be haughty (snobbish, high-minded, exclusive), but readily adjust yourself to [people, things] and give yourselves to humble tasks. Never overestimate yourself or be wise in your own conceits.
17) Repay no one evil for evil, but take thought for what is honest and proper and noble [aiming to be above reproach] in the sight of everyone.
18) If possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.
19) Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave the way open for [God's] wrath; for it is written, Vengeance is Mine, I will repay (requite), says the Lord.
20But if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals upon his head.
9) [Let your] love be sincere (a real thing); hate what is evil [loathe all ungodliness, turn in horror from wickedness], but hold fast to that which is good.
10) Love one another with brotherly affection [as members of one family], giving precedence and showing honor to one another.
11) Never lag in zeal and in earnest endeavor; be aglow and burning with the Spirit, serving the Lord.
12) Rejoice and exult in hope; be steadfast and patient in suffering and tribulation; be constant in prayer.
13) Contribute to the needs of God's people [sharing in the necessities of the saints]; pursue the practice of hospitality.
14) Bless those who persecute you [who are cruel in their attitude toward you]; bless and do not curse them.
15) Rejoice with those who rejoice [sharing others' joy], and weep with those who weep [sharing others' grief].
16) Live in harmony with one another; do not be haughty (snobbish, high-minded, exclusive), but readily adjust yourself to [people, things] and give yourselves to humble tasks. Never overestimate yourself or be wise in your own conceits.
17) Repay no one evil for evil, but take thought for what is honest and proper and noble [aiming to be above reproach] in the sight of everyone.
18) If possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.
19) Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave the way open for [God's] wrath; for it is written, Vengeance is Mine, I will repay (requite), says the Lord.
20But if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals upon his head.
Recently, I have had somethings happen within the realm of relationships, that have blown my mind and rocked my world. They have been everything from good to bad. From ugly to beautiful. One thing I have noticed is that often times we do not want to take ownership for what we create in our relationship's. It becomes such an easy thing to see the issues in others or to plant our expectations upon them without looking in the mirror of our own souls to see where we are responsible and what it is that we may be lacking or where we may be placing unrealistic expectations on individuals that we are in relationship with. A few weeks ago our Pastor was ministering and he mentioned that there are some of us that want love without the risk, and without the vulnerability. We want love without having to be responsible to open ourselves up and give or see through eyes that may not just be our own, or we do not want to take the risk to see with eyes of the present instead of the past. We want everyone and everything else to own our relationship but us.
In James 1:17 it says "Every good gift and every perfect (free, large, full) gift is from above; it comes down from the Father of all [that gives] light, in [the shining of] Whom there can be no variation [rising or setting] or shadow cast by His turning [as in an eclipse]." If God has blessed us to be in relationship, it is first our responsibility to realize that it is a gift from God. How is it that we choose to treat the things that God gives us is totally up to us. We own how we value or devalue the things God gives us. We have the power to see that anything that God gives us is good even when it is challenging and that we can see it or gain from it in a positive sense. So many times we do as Adam did in the garden and say to God, "look it is this woman (or man) you gave me." But could it be maybe that it is our perspective? Have we heaped our past hurts, misconceptions and expectations on this person. Or have we chosen to place limitations or our brokenness on people? In many cases we have, and in all of these cases, we have chosen to take God's gift and take it to task, damage it, or misuse it. It is us, who needs to be in a place of constantly allowing God to search our hearts and clean us up. We should be asking God to remove the scales from our eyes so that we can truly see that gifts and lessons that He is bestowing upon us. This will allow us to glean from and care for our relationships whole heartedly.
Maybe it is not him or her that is broken, maybe it is the way in which we see those in whom you are in relationship with. Or as someone said to me recently maybe we are hearing but we are not listening, to what God is saying through that individual or what that individual is really saying, from the heart of God. It is time for all us to take ownership for our relationships and for where they go and how the get where they are. We are the one's that have the ability to steer things if we consult God and see through the heart and words of our heavenly Father, and not through the eyes of pain or the past. Open up to God's gifts and live, love and learn to own who you are and what you receive from them! It's on you!
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