Until I have a chance to connect to WiFi and upload this to YouTube, you can view the video through my Facebook at this link: Video – Answer #1 – Got Relationship Problems?
The gospel is all about relationships. God is a relational God. Any gospel preached that doesn’t involve loving relationships is no gospel at all. Jesus came to restore relationships with God and with people.
This is a continuation of a blog series on RELATIONSHIPS. I believe God desires to rid our relationships of complexity and restore them back to the simplicity He intended! If you are reading or watching this and didn’t read the intro to this series, I encourage you to go back and read it! It’s called, “Got Relationship Problems?”
In this blog/vlog, I’m covering what I believe to be the number one thing that robs us of the simplicity God intends for us to have in relationships, which is this: We have allowed our past or current experiences to shape how we view people rather than the word of God.
God’s word teaches us to view people according to their created value, not according to where they’ve been or what they’ve done.
Jesus doesn’t mark people for where they have been or what they have done, He marks them for where He has been and what He’s done.
Let’s take a look at this:
When Jesus rose from the dead, He told Mary something incredibly profound. He said: “Do not cling to Me, for I have not yet ascended to My Father; but go to MY BRETHREN and say to them, ‘I am ascending to My Father AND YOUR FATHER, and to My God AND YOUR GOD.’” John? ?20:17? ?NKJV?? (ALL CAPS EMPHASIS is mine).
Look how Jesus refers to His disciples. He calls them His brethren. He includes them in His relationship with Father God. He includes them and treats them as family.
For those that don’t know, these same disciples just betrayed Him at the hour He needed them most! They spend 3 years with Jesus and He pours His life and love into them, only to have them abandon Him at the most pivotal moment of His life — the night in which He was betrayed by Judas. Are you kidding me? Imagine your best friends treating you like family for 3 years and then the time that you need them most, them being nowhere to be found and disowning you entirely, proclaiming that they don’t even know you. Not cool. This was hands down the greatest betrayal of all time — THE Son of God was betrayed by the people He chose to invest His entire ministry into.
Here’s the reality. We have all been hurt at some point. We’ve all been let down at some point. For you, you may have been cheated on. Or maybe you were stabbed in the back by a friend. Or maybe you had a parent that physically, mentally, or emotionally abused you. Or maybe you had a controlling partner. Or maybe you were abandoned.
The things you’ve been through are real. I’m sure they hurt. And I’m truly sorry.
But here’s the deal: If we allow our past or current experiences to shape the way we view people, we will bring complexity into our relationships and never walk in the simplicity that God intended for our relationships.
Viewing people, even ourselves, through the lense of our experiences is robbing us of God’s gift of relationships.
Praise God for sending Jesus to show us how we can be free! Notice what He does in that Scripture… He looks past the former and present actions of His disciples, and He sees them for their created value instead.
This is THE KEY to simple, healthy relationships — we must see people for who God made them to be and not for where they’ve been. This has been made possible through the blood of Jesus.
At this point in the gospel story, the blood of Jesus has been shed, and so He’s seeing them apart from having ever sinned. I want to encourage you. That reality is possible for you too. You can see every single person you encounter as if they’ve never sinned. How do I know? Because God can. And God lives inside of you. So if you die, and you let Him live through you, then you’ll always see people apart from their sin and you’ll experience simplicity in relationships.
Here’s the CALL TO ACTION, because without one, this message is irrelevant (Matthew 7:24-27): Get alone with God and ask Him to give you a perspective shift. Ask Him to transform the way you think, see, feel, and hear people. Ask Him to form you in LOVE. Love keeps no record of wrongs. Love believes all things. Love hopes all things. Love endures all things. Get alone with Him and let Him change you. DO NOT try to muster of your own effort to do this. You can’t! It’s all God. Let God do the work, you just yield Yourself to Him and allow Him to shape you how He wants. And the way He wants is awesome. You’re going to love it!!!
It sounds simple. And that’s because it is. Relationships are simple. Love is simple. And we were made for both of these!
So whatever your past may look like, give it to God. Let Him love you through that. MAKE A DECISION that no matter what your past or your current circumstances look like, you’re following Jesus. And if Jesus isn’t marking people for their actions, then you’re not going to either.
This is an invitation into freedom, I promise you. You will be more free than you’ve been in your whole life if you apply the truths in this video and blog.
I pray for every one of you reading or watching this! May God bless your pursuit of His heart for you, for people, and for simplicity in relationships.
I love you! Please feel free to DM about anything you may need. Much love!
In Christ,
Ryan O’Keefe
#AsYouGoChristianity #LoveAsYouGo #YayGod! #WorldRace2018 #11in11
