I can Afford it!
What is your objective in your relationships with other people? The answer varies from person to person and from relationship to relationship.
Is your aim to be right, which is often the case when two people differ on an issue?
Is your intent to control the situation, as in a parent-small child relationship?
Is your objective to comply no matter what, because you detest tension and conflict?
Is your purpose to persuade, because, in your opinion, that is what the other person needs?
Each of these possibilities needs to be carefully pondered. Given the various relationships we experience, all of us have, no doubt, wrestled with each one of these at one time or another. We need to be honest with ourselves and realistic about our various relationships.
From a biblical point of view, the overriding objective in all relationships is to love the other person. Believers in Jesus Christ need to be loving, because they need to be like Christ. That objective overshadows everything.
Granted, there are times when we need to speak the truth. Paul urges us to speak the truth in love (Eph. 4:15), but that should be done in love, not because we have a personal need to be right. There is a vast difference between speaking the truth in love and speaking the truth because I need to be right.
Granted, there are occasions when we submit to serve. Paul admonishes us to submit to one another (Eph. 5:21). There is, however, a radical difference between submitting to serve and complying to avoid conflict.
Granted, there is a time and a place to witness. We are to preach the Gospel to the whole wide world (Mk. 16:15), but we do not do that because we have a need to persuade anyone of our theological position. We talked to other people about their need of the Lord because they need the Lord!
If we stop and think about it, we who know the Lord can afford to be loving in all our relationships. We have been drenched, soaked, and saturated with so much love, we can afford to share it with others. When done as unto the Lord, when we give love, we get more to take its place. Wow! Under those terms, I can afford to be loving.
Those who need money sometimes manipulate others to get it from them. Those who are rich beyond their capacity to spend can afford to give money away. They have no need to get money; they can afford to give it away. So it is with love. We have been loved by the Lord beyond what we begin to realize. As we understand how much love we have been given, we can afford to give away much more love than we do. It should be the objective of all our relationships. In the end, we will be better off for the effort. Under the circumstances, we can afford it.
© G. Michael Cocoris, 1/31/2007
Is your aim to be right, which is often the case when two people differ on an issue?
Is your intent to control the situation, as in a parent-small child relationship?
Is your objective to comply no matter what, because you detest tension and conflict?
Is your purpose to persuade, because, in your opinion, that is what the other person needs?
Each of these possibilities needs to be carefully pondered. Given the various relationships we experience, all of us have, no doubt, wrestled with each one of these at one time or another. We need to be honest with ourselves and realistic about our various relationships.
From a biblical point of view, the overriding objective in all relationships is to love the other person. Believers in Jesus Christ need to be loving, because they need to be like Christ. That objective overshadows everything.
Granted, there are times when we need to speak the truth. Paul urges us to speak the truth in love (Eph. 4:15), but that should be done in love, not because we have a personal need to be right. There is a vast difference between speaking the truth in love and speaking the truth because I need to be right.
Granted, there are occasions when we submit to serve. Paul admonishes us to submit to one another (Eph. 5:21). There is, however, a radical difference between submitting to serve and complying to avoid conflict.
Granted, there is a time and a place to witness. We are to preach the Gospel to the whole wide world (Mk. 16:15), but we do not do that because we have a need to persuade anyone of our theological position. We talked to other people about their need of the Lord because they need the Lord!
If we stop and think about it, we who know the Lord can afford to be loving in all our relationships. We have been drenched, soaked, and saturated with so much love, we can afford to share it with others. When done as unto the Lord, when we give love, we get more to take its place. Wow! Under those terms, I can afford to be loving.
Those who need money sometimes manipulate others to get it from them. Those who are rich beyond their capacity to spend can afford to give money away. They have no need to get money; they can afford to give it away. So it is with love. We have been loved by the Lord beyond what we begin to realize. As we understand how much love we have been given, we can afford to give away much more love than we do. It should be the objective of all our relationships. In the end, we will be better off for the effort. Under the circumstances, we can afford it.
© G. Michael Cocoris, 1/31/2007