Hope for Real Relationships: Look to God

by Tom Holladay

“Let us stop just saying that we love people. Let us really love them, and show it by our actions.” 1 John 3:18 (LB)
"If anyone has the right to cling to his rights, it's Jesus Christ. But instead, he went to a cross and died for us. He gave up his rights so that you and I could have forgiveness and life."

(Tom Holladay is a teaching pastor at Saddleback Church and author of The Relationship Principles of Jesus.)

Even in the best of relationships, we struggle with selfishness. That’s why it’s so important to look to God as your example when you encounter problems.
How do you inject even a small amount of unselfishness into a relationship? You need to love based on God’s power and not your own power. Ephesians 4:32 teaches us, “Be kind and loving to each other, and forgive each other just as God forgave you in Christ” (NCV).

The only way I can find the power to forgive somebody is because God has forgiven me. His strength in me gives me the power to forgive somebody else.
How do you forgive? How do you let go of bitterness? Only God can give you a new kind of power to do that.

Philippians 2 teaches us, “Don’t be selfish. Don’t live to make a good impression on others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourself … Your attitude should be the same that was shown us by Jesus Christ, who, though he was God, did not demand and cling to his right as God” (vv. 3, 5 LB).

If anyone has the right to cling to his rights, it’s Jesus Christ. But instead, he went to a cross and died for us. He gave up his rights so that you and I could have forgiveness and life.

We want to be like Jesus. We need to be the unselfish one. We will still struggle with selfishness, but if we look to God, who shows us how to do it, and ask Jesus for the power, then we can make the right decision. And instead of having a downward struggle of relationship, we’ll find and upward growing of relationship.

When you look at how much God has forgiven you, you can find the strength to forgive. When you think about how patient he has been with you, you can find the strength to be patient with somebody else.

When you consider the willingness to be honest with your faults, you look to Jesus who is honest about everything. When you see the sacrifice he made on the cross for you, then you find the power to make sacrifices in your marriage, for your kids, for a friend. .

[盈袖2006]

回複安娜晴天的評論:
等著看你寫下來~
我很喜歡你樂觀的精神.生活會很好的.

[安娜晴天]

看到這篇文章，讓我感觸很深， 不知道寫一些什麽好，不知道從哪裏寫起。
謝謝盈袖和苗青青，你們讓我思考，感悟。

等我今年複活節， 如果我有空，我會帶著安娜去我教母生前住過的地方，去她的墓地，再看看我能寫一些什麽發自內心的感悟。教母的精神影響了我的人生。

[盈袖2006]

回複苗青青的評論:
謝謝青青.希望你一切都好,不要太忙.

[苗青青]

回複盈袖2006的評論:

我很喜歡你加深的部分文字。是的， 人沒有的力量， 神可以供應。為你們禱告求神的愛成為人的盼望和愛的源頭，使人在神裏麵找到一切所需的，找到喜樂平安。

周末好！

[盈袖2006]

回複清風明月的評論:
我想要做到,首先是要真正理解到我們的罪和耶穌原諒並為我們死是什麽意思.我很早知道這個說法,用了很多年才慢慢體會到它的意義.

你已經很不容易,愛他們真的很難,我也在努力中,我可以原諒,但真的不願意接近他們.我現在做的就是為他們禱告,也為自己禱告,把一切交在神的手中,他會幫助我們的.時間可能會需要很長.但他有能力改變我們的心,這個過程中我們會更深了解神,並成長.

我有一段經曆,回頭寫出來給你看

[清風明月]

“When you look at how much God has forgiven you, you can find the strength to forgive.”, well said.

我覺得自己還是能夠做到原諒仇人或者我討厭的人的， 但現在仍很難做到愛上他們。 盈袖, 能分享一下你是如何真心愛著曾經傷害過你的人或你討厭的人嗎？