Jonathan Pennington, a New Testament professor at Southern Seminary, once said to me “Life is as good as its relationships.”
Some people try to fill the role that only relationships can fill with other things or pursuits: money, career advancement, DVD collections, electronics, personal achievements, thrilling experiences or the latest new “stuff.” Most of these things have an appropriate role in one’s life, but none can fill the void of relationships.
Every person has several different kinds of relationships. There are family relationships: immediate - spouse, siblings, children - extended - grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins - and very extended - the people of legend: talked about when the stories come out, but seen only slightly more often than Haley’s Comet.
There are workplace relationships: co-workers, superiors, those who work under you; community relationships: gas station attendant, grocery store checker, restaurant server, lady you always see walking her dog at the park; neighborhood relationships: the infamous neighbors - depending on the neighborhood this could be a variety pack of different people or all the same type of person, just with different kids clothing, stuff in their house and/or cars that you either secretly wish you owned or chuckle at every time you see them.
There are also friendship relationships: these could be childhood friends, friends from high school, college buddies or friends who have developed from the other types of relationships. We hope lots of family relationships fall in here, but recognize that this is often not the case.
Finally, in my list so far I have left out the most important relationship: one’s relationship with God, the Creator.
Human relationships are indeed important, but life being as good as its relationships centers on right relationship with God. As our Creator, God has authority over our lives and knows what is best for us. It is both right and good to live in right relationship with Him.
Over the next few weeks, I will walk through these different types of relationships and how they can be approached biblically. What is at stake? Three things: (1) eternity, (2) our joy and (3) God’s glory.
Every relationship represents interaction with a soul, and a person, that will live on forever. When Christ returns and judges the world every soul, every person, enters either eternity in God’s loving presence in heaven or eternity in His wrathful presence in hell. There is no in-between state and death is the point in time when one’s eternity becomes set. Every relationship thus carries weight.
Our joy is also wrapped up in relationships. Put simply, if we live in right relationship with God and people we will experience the deepest joy a person can know. And when we do this, it magnifies the greatness and majesty of the sovereign God who made us, which brings Him the glory that He deserves.
Life is filled with all kinds of experiences, times that bring laughter and tears, delight and sorrow. There are light moments, weighty moments and every type of moment in between.
In all of these experiences, these moments, life really is as good - or as bad - as its relationships.