If Your Relationships Are Not Fit You Will Live in a Pit.

People like people that are like themselves and I think God is the same way. He loves you because that’s who He is but He likes those who live in His likeness. It’s easier to imitate His image than it is to actually be like Him. It’s like a kid who gets all the right clothes for the click but doesn’t have any of the same interests so still can’t be cool. Good friendship and real fellowship come from having character in common. The good, kind and loving don’t get along with the bad, mean and hateful. While misery loves company victory has a party.

Relationships are like oranges and it takes work to get to the fruit. You have to let down your guard and peel away a bit of protection to find a slice in common. You have to give of what you have if you want a harvest. If you don’t you may end up old and hard like an orange baseball. (If you live in Colorado where it’s dry, I suppose if you live where it humid you might end up old and moldy.) Anyway - hard or moldy neither one is good so if you want life to be sweet you will need to take a risk and open up a bit. If you don’t do anything to cultivate your relationships they won’t grow. And if your relationships are not fit you’ll live in a pit. All the other areas of your life may be going great but if you have no one to share it with you’ll still be sad.

As I’ve been thinking about getting fit in every area of life the question has come up which one is the most important - spirit, soul, body, finances or relationships? One answer is, “the one you are struggling with most at the time” and that applies but today I was thinking that the greatest commandments have to do with relationship. First and foremost we are to love God and people and without them what would be the point of all the rest? We were created to be social but it takes effort to have the fruit of friendship. Sometimes people think that if they were just more “successful” then they would have more friends but the truth is that if you have more friends you will be more successful. How does this success come? The same as all that endures - you have to WORK on it. Just like every area it takes consistent exercise to develop and increase. God will help us and multiply our efforts but zero times zero is still zero. So what will you do and keep on doing? Will you call, complement and confide. Will you text, e-mail or just stop by? Will you eat, talk, and walk together? Or will you get so busy trying to “succeed” that you miss out on really living and loving God and the people around you?

When death comes knockin on your door will you be ready for it? There might not be time to make amends and tell people that you love them. People give flowers to dead people but what’s the point? Is it to show love and respect, to apologize for regrets or just for decoration? You know the old saying and it really is better, “Give them the flowers while they live!” And if you do then you can both enjoy the fragrance of a good relationship before it’s to late for this lifetime. Thank God for heaven but we really are supposed to get things right before we die! No more excuses! Take time and make time to do it!

“A man that hath friends must shew himself friendly.”
Prov 18:24aKJV