The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe…
“Never Give Up (on Relationships)”
A dear friend and brother in Christ has recently experienced the first steps of a restored relationship with a family member from whom he has been estranged for more than four decades. My friend has prayed thousands of prayers and has always been willing to renew fellowship. Only recently, however, has his relative experienced a change of heart and mind. This has led to several brief contacts, with plans for more involved and lengthy times of getting together to remember and rejoice in times past, and hopefully, to enjoy many times to come.
We are not to give up on relationships. If the Bible contains any message at all, it calls us to have hope that the Lord Jesus Christ will be known as the Redeemer and Restorer He is. Indeed, the account of the thief on the cross (now the saint in Heaven) commands that we ever hold out hope that burned bridges and roads washed out can be repaired by the grace of God, making possible the miraculous establishment or restoration of relationship with both God and people. In the last hours of life, our brother of old became a blessed confirmation of our Savior’s power to change heart and minds. The thief responded to God’s mercy offered with seemingly so little time left for a saving relationship with God. Doubtless, many such late hour conversions have occurred in those who have squandered an earthly lifetime, but who will most surely not waste eternity in their ongoing testimony of the relentless Spirit of God, pursuing to the end.
The truth applies to human to human relationships as well. We are not give up on them. Pray accordingly. Think accordingly. Believe accordingly. Bear an expectant heart of mercy and a willingness for whatever personal repentance may be necessary. Love accordingly, that is, love God by trusting Him, and love the estranged by not giving up on the possibility he will be drawn near to yet again become dear. One never knows when a knock on the door may amaze us with wonder as the grace of the Lord Jesus builds a new path that has brought someone to our doorstep we thought never to have seen again. “The love of Christ, which passeth knowledge” can do such things. It has over and over, and it will again and again (Ephesians 3:19. We never give up on relationships.
“I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, with all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”(Ephesians 4:1-3)
“And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.”
(Ephesians 4:32)
Weekly Memory Verse
For the Lord is good, and His truth endureth to all generations.
(Psalm 100:5
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