Real Life Real Faith Men of Faith March 2016 | Page 22
BEING YOUNG GIFTED AND BLACK
HEALTHY RELATIONSHIPS
THAT GIVE GOD GLORY
Christian Sonier , Educator
by Alicia Berkeley
In the end, relationships
should give God glory.
My prayer is that
whoever reads this
article has learned
something and
hopefully will be able to
apply it to their
everyday lives. Be
blessed
E
phesians 4:2-3 “Be completely
humble and gentle; be patient, bearing
with one another in love. Make every
effort to keep the unity of the Spirit
through the bond of peace.”
Healthy relationships are very important
and absolutely vital to establishing a
positive Christian culture. In order to help
others grow in Christ, we must first learn
how to establish relationships that are
edifying to all involved. The key to
establishing these relationships is
understanding the characteristics
involved in their creation. How are they
formed and what do they encompass?
Well for me, a healthy relationship first
and foremost must have God at the
head. There is not a relationship worth
entering where God is not present. On
many occasions, we get caught up in our
own selfish desires and forget to seek
God for the ordering of our steps
esspecially with our relationships.
What happens as a result is that we tend
to find ourselves in situations that are
unhealthy and not in accordance with
God’s plan for our lives. A healthy
relationship is supposed to help us to
grow and mature not regress.
In addition to placing God at the head,
there must be a commitment to following
his rules and regulations regarding
relationships. 2 Corinthians 6:14-15 says,
“Do not be bound together with
unbelievers; for what partnerships have
righteousness and lawlessness, or what
fellowship has light with darkness? Or
what harmony has Christ with Belial, or
what has a believer in common with an
unbeliever”? What this passage suggests
is that you must have something in
common in order to maintain a
relationship that is healthy. Relationships
will never be perfect or without discord,
however, this is where being equally
yoked comes to play.
Although you may have different
instances within your relationship where
you may not see eye to eye, being equally
yoked allows you to work through those
differences. You may not have the same
viewpoints on the particular issues at
hand, yet, what you do share are the
same visions and goals in regards to what
direction you want your relationship to
go. You may not have the same
viewpoints on the particular issues at
hand, yet, what you do share are the
same visions and goals in regards to what
direction you want your relationship to
go. These parallels in vision allow you to
work through your problems and handle
your issues with integrity because you
understand that due to the same
common core beliefs, each of you wants
what is best for each other and you are
committed to doing what is necessary to
make that commitment come to fruition.