Wrong relationships can easily lead to a path of destruction.
Let’s turn to the words of King Solomon found in Proverbs 4:25-27 for some wise counsel on relationships:
“Let your eyes look straight ahead, fix your eyes directly before you. Make level paths for your feet and take only ways that are firm. Do not swerve to the right or the left; keep your foot from evil.”
Importance of Godly Relationships
Basically, if you run with the wrong crowd you’re potentially destined for destruction!
It can be quite easy to swerve off the road and end up in a proverbial ditch. Sometimes it can be extremely tough to get back on the right road.
Our wheels can just spin and spin and we can’t seem to get any traction. That’s when many finally come to realize they need divine assistance.
Cultivating a Right Relationship with God
We need good people to come alongside to pull us out of our self-made mess.
Two failed marriages I personally experienced earlier in life were not terrible relationships, but there was one critical missing ingredient in both. Neither party in those marriages had a strong relationship with the Lord.
On my third attempt, I was truly blessed with a godly woman to share our mutual belief and trust in God Almighty!
We both look forward to celebrating our 40th anniversary this coming year. That brings me to the most important relationship in my life.
Once the Holy Spirit came into my life in 1984, I suddenly started forming those right relationships that had alluded me for the first 40 years of my life.
Good People Placed in My Path
That’s when I first realized that I needed to love God with all my heart and with all my mind and with all my soul and with all my strength.
And, I needed to work on loving others as I loved myself. I do consider it work, since I’ve discovered many people are not that easy to love.
These days, my life is filled with meaningful one-on-one meetings with others over coffee or an occasional lunch.
Not all are fellow followers of Christ, but they all are good people God has placed in my path for His purpose.
Often those meetings simply require my attention to listen to what’s going on in the other person’s life.
If appropriate, I’ll ask if we can pray for their circumstance, and amazingly, we lift up their concerns to the Lord and sense His presence.
Praying to our Comforter and sensing His comfort can be a beautifully therapeutic and pleasing experience.
It truly is a pleasure to develop that right relationship with God! Yes, the Holy Spirit has made what was once a difficult task quite easy with His divine help and guidance.
It all starts with accepting God’s wonderful plan of salvation, getting out of the way and letting Him take control of our future.
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;
in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.”
— Proverbs 3:5-6