Article by Dr. Les Hollon, Pastor, St. Matthews Baptist Church

 

These relationships form the inner core of our lives. We hunger to love and be loved, but how do we live in right relationship with each other?  By listening and connecting…

 

LISTENING:

God’s love, which transforms our lives inside out, is the source for us to live in right relationship with family, friends & acquaintances. How?  Christ shows us by His love for us and by our first-hand experience we can love each other with Christ-likeness.  With love we listen, and when we really listen to God’s love …

 

Our Minds are changed when we think about others being a person of worth—not an object, a means to an end;

 

Our Hearts are changed when what we value becomes motivated by a passion for God’s best;

 

Our Bodies are changed when our mind, spirit, & heart can be centered in the body as a temple created by God and not just seen as a mass of muscle, tissue, blood, bones, chemical reactions;

 

Our Spirits are changed when the spark of our identity, which is created in God’s image, knows salvation and ripples out to every area of our life.

 

CONNECTING:

God’s love enables us to:

 

1. Relate in love, “Perfect love casts out fear.”

2. Work Together to bring about God’s best.

3. Focus through love to work out differences and not be distracted by grudges, envy, jealousy, pridefulness, blaming, and “my way or no way” attitude

3. Speak respectfully while working through differences among ourselves.

4. Responsibly deal with our “own issues” so we can be helpful and not a hindrance.

5. Seek to understand each other by connecting with each other spiritually, emotionally, and mentally.

6. Trust each other and seek forgiveness when trust is bruised.

7. Lead with integrity by being trustworthy.

8. Model cohesiveness as sisters & brothers in Christ.

9. Stimulate each other to grow personally and as family & friends.

10. Enjoy each other with smiles & hugs to pass on the peace.

 

Let’s live out our salvation by how we love one another.

 

Pastor Les Hollon

 

“Sometimes it seems like God is difficult to find and impossibly far away.  We get so caught up in our small daily duties and irritations that they become the only things that we can focus on. What we forget is that God’s love and beauty are all around us, every day, if only we would take the time to look up and see them.”

-Matthias

 

This article was written by Les Hollon, Pastor of St. Matthews Baptist Church.  For more information about forming right relationships with family, friends and acquaintances, St. Matthews Baptist Church, or to contact Dr. Hollon, click over to St. Matthews Baptist Church.

 

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