God’s Guide to Relationships
The Bible is like a roadmap for every journey you take in life. I think the most useful guidance He gives us is how to navigate people. The cool thing about God is that He shows us the way through every problem we may face. Friends, family, and partners don’t always see eye to eye. Exploring His word on how to build strong, Godly, relationships is the key to a happy life.
Proverbs 13:20 The one who walks with the wise will become wise, but a companion of fools will suffer harm.
This verse is very interesting to me. In Sunday School terms, it just says to make smart choices when choosing your friends. In high school terms, it means having those close, safe friendships helps you make good choices, and live the way God has imagined for us. Having friends that make stupid choices doesn’t automatically make you stupid. You can have a 4.0 GPA and still hang out with a rough crowd.
God specifically says you’ll suffer harm, not become foolish. From hanging out with the wrong people, you can get a bad reputation, be looked down upon by teachers and peers, or even get caught up in the choices your friends are making. Even if nothing bad happens to you, it will hurt to see someone you care about straying from their path. At the end of the day, our inner circle influences us the most, and it’s our job to follow God to live our best lives.
Proverbs 16:24 Pleasant words are honeycomb: sweet to the taste and health to the body.
Kindness is perhaps the most important trait in any type of relationship, starting with yourself. Loving yourself first is the foundation of any relationship. If you can’t take care of yourself, there’s no way you can properly contribute to anyone else’s life.
Of course, you can joke around with friends and significant others. I don’t know of a single relationship that isn’t a little bit goofy. There is always a line though. Sometimes jokes can hit a little too close to home, and you have to be careful of that. Making sure that each person knows how much you value them and always, always apologizing if your words aren’t lined with honeycomb is the key to maintaining a balance of love and humor in a relationship.
Matthew 18:21–22 Then Peter approached him and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? As many as seven times?” And Jesus said to him, “Not up to seven, but as many as seventy times seven.”
Humans are innately bad. We are greedy, selfish, and lustful and have been since Eve took that fateful bite. Nobody is perfect. We all make mistakes and have regrets. For that reason, we have to forgive one another and God has forgiven us. To not forgive someone for their wrongs when you have also committed many wrongs just makes you a hypocrite. To be at peace in any type of relationship means wholly forgiving them and loving them anyway.
1 Corinthians 13:4, 7–8 Love is patient. Love is kind. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.
When I was growing up my mom always taught me the importance of knowing my worth. She’s the strongest female role model I’ve ever had in my life. The one thing that has always stuck with me has been this verse and what she’s taught me from it. Her rule was that if you can’t replace the word “love” with the name of your significant other in every verse of the Bible, then they’re not the one. If he is not patient, kind, protecting, trusting, hopeful, and persistent, then he doesn’t deserve you. It’s a quick thing, but it’s a sure fire way to make sure you’re in the right kind of relationship.
1 Peter 4:8 Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers a multitude of sins. 1 Corinthians 13:13 And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love. And the greatest of these is love. 1 John 4:19 We love because He first loved us.
As Christians one main truth exists in our minds; Jesus died for eternal love and salvation. At times, it is hard to comprehend the amount of love He has for us. Just imagining Him look at the cross, think of all that God would make, and knowing that death would be worth it amazes me. The same God that created the mountains and oceans and waterfalls and sunrises and every other beautiful thing on this planet decided that He needed one of you too. The love He has for us is incredible. He loves so that we can love as well.
In any relationship, unconditional love is everything. When you have nothing left, when so many hateful words have been spoken, when there seems to be no redemption, love heals it all. It’s by God’s grace and unconditional love that we can love one another in the way we deserve to be.
Jeremiah 31:3 The Lord appeared to us saying “I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness.” Hosea 2:19 I will betroth you to me forever; I will betroth you in righteousness and justice, in love and compassion.
Specifically, in romantic relationships, God needs to be the center focus in order for them to succeed. After all, He was everyone’s first love. He knit us together in our mothers’ wombs. He loved us like no other and gave us the gift of life. In our belief, we give our lives to God. We are married to Him and His word. We spend our lives striving to be like Him. We seek the kingdom of God and seek His blessing in our marriages. We learn how to love through His perfect example and allow Him to work through our spouses to share that love. It is through God that we find a love like His.
To me, the Bible is like a giant love letter. God guides us in how to live our best lives because He loves us that much. He doesn’t hide the “fun” parts of life to deprive us, but to keep us safe. He guards our hearts by setting rules in relationships. He basically gives us this treasure map and if we follow it, we can live an eternal life of love and joy, just as He designed it.
