Hebrews 8:12
“For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.”
There is no better example of how to build a relationship with sinners than Jesus Christ. Jesus, the sinless Son of God, continually builds relationships with sinners. He is the One Who died for the sins of mankind, yet He still finds it within Himself to build a relationship with us. How does He do it? The verse above shows us that He is merciful and willing to move on and not remember what we have done. This is a great example of building relationships with sinful people!
Life is filled with relationships. From the day you were born to the present, you continually enter some type of a relationship with people. You started life by building a relationship with your parents. From that first relationship, you start building relationships with friends, teachers, spiritual leaders, employers, employees and daily acquaintances. You have been and are still building relationships in life.
How you get along in these relationships will have a great part in determining the amount of joy you have in life. I have watched people destroy nearly every relationship only to be lonely when they get old. I have watched others build relationships and have many friends when they get older. The key is to follow Christ’s example in the verse above.
First, you must realize that every person is a sinner. You are going to have to expect people to do wrong. You cannot enter a relationship expecting others to be sinless. Jesus knew when He entered into a relationship with mankind that we were sinners, but He was willing to be merciful to us in spite of our sin. A person who won’t give people a break when they do wrong will be a person who destroys relationships. You have to give people a chance to do wrong without severing the relationship.
Second, don’t make your relationships about you. Jesus certainly didn’t make the relationship about Himself; instead, He died for us so that we had a way to restore our fellowship with Him. You will never build relationships if you make every relationship about you. Relationships are a two-way street. Don’t make your relationships about what you get out of them. If you are going to build lasting relationships with others, you are going to have to build them by having some give and take.
Third, be willing to be merciful to others when they do you wrong. Jesus was merciful to us even though our sins killed Him. Every person will hurt you at some time, but you must be willing to be merciful if you want your relationship to last. In other words, you are going to have to forgive others if you want to build lasting relationships. Forgiveness is the key ingredient in building lasting relationships.
Fourth, you must be willing to move on from the past if you are going to build a lifelong relationship. Jesus remembered our sins “no more.” This is His choice to forget. You are going to have to choose not to hold the past against people if you want to build lasting relationships. Don’t ever bring up the past when dealing with a present wrong. You must choose not to bring up the past if you want to build lifelong relationships.
Life is built around relationships. You can make the most of them by following these four steps to building lifelong relationships.