THE KEY TO HEALTHY RELATIONSHIPS

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.

Ephesians 5:21

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

We have a general problem with relationships today.

I’m not just talking about marital or family relationships. I’m talking about any and all relationships that include within the workplace, in the church, and just relating to other people in general.

I think a lot of the issues in this matter can be traced back to self centeredness. Everyone seems to be more and more to be looking out for themselves these days. It’s all about me, myself, and I, and yet, people still want to be in relationships with others and enter into them wanting to get their own way and have their own desires met first.

And when you get two people together who want themselves to be first, you can see where this works against the very concept of being relational. I’m convinced it’s the reason why we find so many marriages ending these days, sending divorce statistics soaring.

Well, as we turn to the scriptures, we find the Lord always providing solutions to the problems we see in life. Look at what He says is the key to healthy relationships:

“Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.” Ephesians 5:21

There is no question that we are to honor our Lord with the way we live our lives. We have just spent nearly two weeks looking at the qualities a Christian should display, qualities that show they are no longer living by the world’s sinful standards but rather the holy and righteous expectations of God, holy and righteous expectations that were perfectly carried out by Jesus as He lived His life.

Christians are to be like Christ. It’s as simple as that and as they live like their Savior did, they honor Him and the Father God who sent Him to save.

In today’s verse, we find that we can show our respect for Jesus one more way by submitting to one another.

Now, to submit is to surrender, to yield, or to give in to another. It is the polar opposite of living in a way that is self-serving.

In any relationship, submission is putting someone else’s needs in place of your own. It requires a person to set themselves aside and even give up something they desire if it will help the other person in the relationship. Compromise is always in play within a healthy relationship and all parties have to be onboard if it’s going to work properly.

In other words, relationships only stay healthy when all people in the relationship agree to submit to the other or others. This applies to our relationships with one another but it also applies to our relationship with our Lord.

In one simple verse of nine words, the Bible gives us all we need to have healthy relationships with others and honor Jesus through them. All we need to do is to submit to one another.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to Gods4all@aol.com