Relationships

“The Lord God said, ‘It is not good that the man should be alone. . .” Genesis 2:18

Isn’t this the truth? It is not good for any of us to be alone. Now we may wonder at times. We may find it easier at times to avoid relationships. All of us have experienced the difficulty of relationships with other human beings. We’ve struggled in our family, at our jobs, even in the church. People can be difficult. So can you.

All of us have been hurt by others, some severely. We know what it is to be rejected, lied to, and betrayed. We know what it is to have our trust broken, our needs ignored, and our efforts taken for granted. It makes you wonder why any of us invest at all in each other.

We invest because we have to. It is how we’ve been created. It is amazing to think that after God finished creating the world, the animals, and this lone man, it wasn’t enough. God in his infinite wisdom recognized the man’s need - our need. It is not good for us, for you, to be alone.

Yet, some of us choose this path even though it goes completely contrary to our needs. We think meaning and contentment can be found in our jobs or our stuff or in the pursuit of hobbies. We think it is enough that the Lions win or we get a promotion or we purchase that brand new car. We think meaning can be found at the mall or in our bowling league or even just sitting in a pew at a church. We invest all sorts of time in activities that take us away from relationships or put us in situations with lots of people, but very little meaningful interaction. Think of the people you spend a lot of time with. Do you really know them? Do you know their passions, their hurts, their dreams? Have you really seen who they are? Do they really know you?

I wonder how many marriages struggle because of this reality. We coast in relationships, even in our marriages. We spend lots of time together but hardly any time developing or growing our relationship. Watching TV does not bring you closer together. Eating without talking does not bring you closer together. Participating in activities does not guarantee that your relationship will develop.

We’ve learned to keep ourselves very busy, taking advantage of all the opportunities that come. Yet many of these decisions keep us from really getting to know people. Instead they fill our time and distract us from a lot of what is most important.

Why do so many people struggle with loneliness, depression, and relational disorders? It is often because their primary need, their need for connection, is not being met. We are created to be in relationship. We can’t function apart from the help, encouragement, accountability, love, care, and communication that are found in relationships where we care about each other enough to do the hard work of growing the relationship.

We are created in the image of God. We can reflect his essence. The essence of God is relational. Within Him are Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. God is relational, personal. So are we. And isn’t it amazing that God knew we needed each other? He knew that for us to see Him, we need to see Him through the reflection we can see in each other. God is seen in the gift of the man, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who came to establish a relationship with us. God is seen as we seek to allow Jesus to share Himself through us.