3 Things Christians Need to Know About Relationships

Sometimes as a Christian I want to hold myself to a higher standard than other people around me. More accurately I like to think that I am holding myself to a higher standard than what I think other people are holding themselves to. Just because I have a different standard does not make their standards less than mine. We’re just different.

Being different is fine. It is like when my wife and I go look at homes in different neighborhoods, yes we are those people who will just drive through random neighborhoods to look at the different homes. (Don’t judge us…you do it too) So when we drive through these neighborhoods, we don’t like to see cookie-cutter homes. Houses that look exactly the same on the outside are boring. We like houses that are different. Different makes it a home. All that to say, that just because someone is different or has different standards does not make them better or worse, they are just different.

As a Christian, we can feel like we’re “right” when it comes to a lot of things. I’m not going to go into detail because we all can come up with a list of things and issues that we are “right” about. Or we know someone whose like this. You’re probably thinking of someone at this moment. So as a Christian how can we be “right” and not have a high and mighty attitude towards others? Here are 3 tips on how to do this.

1.  Listen Before Responding 

Yes we believe what God says is right. His word is true. How we apply or implicate that into our lives is not always right. This is what the Bible says:

James 1:19(KJV)
19 Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath:

While we believe that we’re right. In talking to those around us, we need to do more listening and less with having our rebuttal ready. If you listen long enough people will tell you all you need to know. You’ll learn what’s on their heart and the things that are a struggle for them.  Then God will show you how to respond to them in a way that will be a blessing and help them.

Having relationships, whether it’s family, friend, or co-worker can expose you to hurts. Some of the people that can hurt us the most aren’t complete strangers, they are the people closest to us. We want to continue to develop our relationship with God, because God can help us with other relationships. The relationships that God gives aren’t  for the purpose of us determining whose “right” all the time. It’s about being there to support one another. Through that support you learn to be swift to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger(wrath).

Sometimes our attitudes carry through to how we say things. While it may be great for us to be “right” it doesn’t edify someone if we talk to them like they are undeserving of God’s grace. There is always the “how” and “when.” We should be asking God for when to have conversations. After a long work day might not be the time to tell your spouse that you believe God told you to tell them that they’re raising the children wrong. Just as important as “when” is “how.” If we will listen, God will tell us “how” to bring up those tough conversations. We just have to listen.By beginning to implement these three things, I believe that our relationships with family, friends, and those we come into contact with on a daily basis will get better. I challenge you to start to be swift to listen and slow to speak this week.