Relationships: Do Unto Others As... by Kelly
Durant 1-25-15
Luke 6:31
31 And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to
them likewise.
2. I recall not
long ago I saw a true life detective TV show about man and woman who had been
married for over 30 years. The man had become increasingly deaf through the
years and used a hearing and he liked to watch TV and was lazy in his old age.
When ever the wife would start talking to him he would just turn down the
hearing aid and not pay any attention to her.
Obviously this
was a great frustration for her but she got so frustrated she decided she could
not take the relationship any more. She did something terrible and started
putting poison in his food. When he ended up in the emergency room dying she
had to confess what she had done!
What a terrible example
of not maintaining a good relationship, would you not agree?
Life is all about
relationships! You have one with your spouse, one with your children, one with
your parents, one with your brothers and sisters, one with your boss, one with
your church, and most importantly one with God!
We all deal with
dozens of people in different ways all day long.
Love can easily turn to hate and then hate can become acts
of violence!
3. What we will
look at is our selves today and may God help you to judge how we are BEHAVING in
society we must ask ourselves. What reactions are we provoking? We may see
ourselves a certain way, but God and others may see us different.
Jesus said; Luke 6:31
The reality of
life is that everyone of us are sinners living with blindness to our own
mistakes and we may not even be aware of what we are doing to other men or
women close to us. We usually are denying the offenses we are doing against our
spouses, our children, to others, or even worse against God.
God will allow us
in heaven or allow us to slide to hell by judging the relationship we had with
Jesus Christ! And how sincere we were in our love for Him will be reflected in how
kind or how cruel we were with others around us!
4. Relationships
are everything! Only with good communication, sincere dedication, and with
supernatural love will any human being be able to have relationships that last.
Jesus words imply
to us that if we are want others to treat us well, we should be the first to
show the example of treating them well, as we heard, “ And as ye would that men
should do to you, do ye also to them likewise.”
In relationships we
see applied the law of “you reap what you sew”. If you sew love, you reap love,
if you sew indifference, you reap indifference, hate, or even wrath! That is
what happened to the man who ignored his wife! People who stop listening to
others are usually filled with pride and pride comes before a fall!
5. And there is the reality that those that
resist God’s love, those that refuse to come and learn about Christ, those that
refuse to be living the Christian life and have a relationship with God, are
people that are provoking God’s wrath. We all inherently perceive the ominous
truth that God does have an eternal punishment for those who are evil, unloving,
rebellious, violent, and cruel who do not want to know of His ways!
The first thing
to keep in mind is that God wants us take care of our relationship with Him and
if we do all other relationships usually just fall into place. Some people do
not treat God as they want to be treated and then they wonder why God let’s
them down and why so many things happen to them. God wants our worship, time,
loyalty, and faithfulness! Ask your self, am I giving Him that in the measure
that I should?
If you are
seeking to love God with all your heart, mind, and soul, and love others as
your self, if you are worshipping God in fellowship as we are commanded to do
it, if you are giving your time talent, and treasure for his use, then your
relationship with God will be healthy! You know when it is healthy and when it
is not.
A healthy
relationship with God will set you up to have all your other relationships healthy
too! It is as simple as that!
6. For good
relationships with anyone in life what we need to practice is what God demands
from us and that is to manifest our love, dedication, and time
(with God time =prayer) and time= communication, and absolute
faithfulness.
Remember you or I can love intensely someone
but we must never worship them as worship must only be reserved for God and
Jesus Christ! God over time always removes idols, or anything that is before
him.
We can get inspired
to worship God anywhere! Have you ever been in your car and a beautiful sunrise
(or sunset) comes up and you are in awe of God’s beauty? Or in the car, have
you ever sang along with a praise song on the radio? God wants your attention
and inspiration; treat Him as you would treat someone riding in your car!
But there are always
some people who do not obey God, or they are rebellious to God and they do not
practice this simple law “that we should do to others as we would have them do
unto us.”
Some people only
move their tongue for hours because they only want relationships in order to be
able to use people (maybe you) for their own desires, to get something carnal
or material. How worthless and shallow is this kind of relationship!
7. When I was about 16 it was the custom to give
Valentine cards in the classrooms to all the girls (or boys if you were a girl)
and we would make new friends and ask others out on dates. After a few dates I
discovered there were some girls that only wanted you to give them stuff and
invite them to dinner, but in the end you find out they really don’t even like
you! There was no intention of love and faithfulness, just a taking advantage
to get to get out of the house on your expense. We all learn early in life
there are good relationships and bad ones! Let’s get rid of the bad
relationships, the people close to you who do not love God and do not treat
others as their selves. For the love of your own self-protection, listen to
that soft inner voice of God and get bad people out of your life today!
Probably most
everyone here has been used and abused by someone in their past; you were used
by someone pretending to love you or be your friend. God, the same as us does
not appreciate abusive relationships. Harmful
relationships with deceit in the core are of Satan they are an imitation of
what appears real but was not, the opposite of what Jesus taught!
Be aware of these situations, where someone is
abusing and taking advantage of your kindness just because you are a relative
or a friend. Some people even go from church to church looking for dumb (their
view) Christians that they can take advantage of and get money from through
some shady business. And we shouldn’t we have mercy on the homeless ones, or poor
immigrants who end up losing everything due to then being a victim to someone’s
thievery and trickery! False relationships
deeply wound one’s spirit!
8. And what happens when a con gets
conned? I have seen they get upset
enough to want to kill when it come back to them! Everyone has to hear about it
for weeks when one of these types of people gets a taste of their own medicine!
The mirror of truth is blinding painful when it reflects back and one is paid
with the same kind of unkind deeds! I recall one person at a Corps that worked
for a telemarketing firm and he would get people to say, “Yes” three times on
the phone. Would you like to win a free TV? Yes! Would you like a better cable
service? Yes! Would you say yes to a cheaper service? Yes! But then after the
cable service agreement was explained by him if he got a “No” it did not matter
as they charged the person anyway. How? Because he said that by law we can bill
a person if they say, “yes” 3 times! Later this same poor guy lost his house to
foreclosure due to the person who sold it to him did a fraudulent loan! Life is
a boomerang, it seems what people do always comes back to them! It boomerangs!
So we have the
standard to live by and ask yourself, would I want to have someone do to me
what I am doing to this person? If the answer is “No” then repeat, ask
forgiveness, and correct the situation to be right, and “sin no more” as Jesus
told the prostitute, “Go and sin no more!” Do not do to others as you would not
have them do to you! Ask them forgiveness today to break the cycle of abuse
fueling more abuse!
To give an example, there have been times when she has
worked a long time make a dinner that is special, and I have come home full of
things in my head, sat down, ate it, and got up and started working on
something. I realized I was rude and that I should go back and ask forgiveness
and show thankfulness and appreciation. We need to notice what others do for
us! They say one of the principle complaints of people that divorce is that
they do not feel appreciated! It takes effort to show love but remember it
takes more energy to have to make up for not loving!
9. If you want to
be treated better in your relationships then love God more and teach others to
love God! If you want love, faithfulness, dedication, communication and time
from someone, then practice these things at home and bring your loved ones to
church where they can learn more about these things that only God can offer!
God is love and
the more God in your life the more love there will be in all the relationships
around you!
But love implies patience; others may not treat you back
with love even though you love!
Did that matter to Jesus?
NO! He gave His life anyway!
1 Cor 13:4-7
4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does
not boast, it is not proud. 5 It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not
easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil
but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes,
always perseveres.
10. The only way to have a good relationship
with your spouse, your family, and with others is to practice what is the
essence of the whole Bible teaches and that is to live and practice love. Love
is equal to the “doing to others, as what you want them to do to you”!
Dedication, communication, faithfulness all will appear automatic if you have
these principles first as the rudder of your life!
If you are guilty
of not maintaining correctly your relationship with God, come forward and pray
and change that today! You are affecting others negatively! If you are guilty
of not treating others as you treat yourself, then come forward today and pray
and ask forgiveness today! Break the cycle of reaping bad things because you
are sewing bad things!
Don’t risk anything
bad happening without having your relationship with God and with those around
you in order and flowing with love!
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