Understanding your Relationship with Others

What does God say about relationships with others?
Love is the foundation of all relationships, and that love should be characterized by selflessness, kindness, and forgiveness. The Bible commands to “love your neighbour as yourself” (Mark 12:31) and “love one another as I have loved you” (John 15:12)

In Deuteronomy 5:16-21, we study
You must honour your father and your mother. The Lord your God has commanded you to do this. If you follow this command, you will live a long time, and everything will go well for you in the land that the Lord your God gives you. You must not murder anyone. You must not commit the sin of adultery. You must not steal. You must not tell lies about other people. You must not want another man’s wife. You must not want his house, his fields, his men, and women servants, his cattle, or his donkey’s. You must not want to take anything that belongs to another person.

Proverbs 3:27-35, teach us
Do everything you possibly can for those who need help. If your neighbour needs something you have, don’t say, “Come back tomorrow.” Give it to him immediately. Don’t make plans to harm your neighbour who lives near your and trusts you. Don’t take people to court without good reason, especially when they have done nothing to harm you. Don’t envy those who are violent. Never choose to be like them. Such crooked people are disgusting to the Lord. But he is a friend to those who are good and honest. The people curse a wicked family, but he blesses the homes of those who live right. He will humiliate those who make fun of others, but he is kind to those who are humble. The way the wise live will bring them honour, but the way fools live will bring them shame.

Matthew describes in 18:15-17,
If your brother or sister in God’s family does something wrong, go and tell them what they did wrong. Do this when you are alone with them. If they listen to you, then you have helped them to be your brother or sister again. But if they refuse to listen to them, then tell the church. And if they refuse to listen to the church treat them as you would treat someone who does not know God or who is a tax collector.

Romans 14:13-23, tells not to cause others to Sin
We should stop judging each other. Let’s decide not to do anything that will cause a problem for a brother or sister or hurt their faith. I know that there is no food that is wrong to eat. The Lord Jesus is the one who convinced me of that. But if someone believes that something is wrong, then it is wrong for that person. If you hurt the faith of your brother or sister because of something you eat, you are not really following the way of love. Don’t destroy anyone’s faith by eating something they think is wrong. Christ died for them. Don’t allow what is good for you to become something they say is evil. In God’s kingdom,* what we eat and drink is not important. Here is what is important: a right way of life, peace, and joy—all from the Holy Spirit. Whoever serves Christ by living this way is pleasing God, and they will be accepted by others. So let’s try as hard as we can to do what will bring peace. Let’s do whatever will help each other grow stronger in faith. Don’t let the eating of food destroy the work of God. All food is right to eat, but it is wrong for anyone to eat something that hurts the faith of another person. It is better not to eat meat or drink wine or do anything else that hurts the faith of your brother or sister. You should keep your beliefs about these things a secret between yourself and God. It is a blessing to be able to do what you think is right without feeling guilty. But anyone who eats something without being sure it is right is doing wrong. That is because they did not believe it was right. And if you do anything that you believe is not right, it is sin.

Galatians 6:1-10, teaches us to help each other and never stop doing good
Brothers and sisters, someone in your group might do something wrong. You who are following the Spirit* should go to the one who is sinning. Help make that person right again, and do it in a gentle way. But be careful, because you might be tempted to sin too. Help each other with your troubles. When you do this, you are obeying the law of Christ. If you think you are too important to do this, you are only fooling yourself. Don’t compare yourself with others. Just look at your own work to see if you have done anything to be proud of. You must each accept the responsibilities that are yours. Whoever is being taught God’s word should share the good things they have with the one who is teaching them. If you think you can fool God, you are only fooling yourselves. You will harvest what you plant. If you live to satisfy your sinful self, the harvest you will get from that will be eternal death. But if you live to please the Spirit,* your harvest from the Spirit will be eternal life. We must not get tired of doing good. We will receive our harvest of eternal life at the right time. We must not give up. When we have the opportunity to do good to anyone, we should do it. But we should give special attention to those who are in the family of believers.

In Colossians 3:12-17, we study about our new life with each other
God has chosen you and made you his holy people. He loves you. So your new life should be like this: Show mercy to others. Be kind, humble, gentle, and patient. Don’t be angry with each other, but forgive each other. If you feel someone has wronged you, forgive them. Forgive others because the Lord forgave you. Together with these things, the most important part of your new life is to love each other. Love is what holds everything together in perfect unity. Let the peace that Christ gives control your thinking. It is for peace that you were chosen to be together in one body. And always be thankful. Let the teaching of Christ live inside you richly. Use all wisdom to teach and counsel each other. Sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs with thankfulness in your hearts to God. Everything you say and everything you do should be done for Jesus your Lord. And in all you do, give thanks to God the Father through Jesus.

1 John 4:7-12, tells us that Love comes from God
Dear friends, we should love each other, because love comes from God. Everyone who loves has become God’s child. And so everyone who loves knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love to us: He sent his only Son into the world to give us life through him. True love is God’s love for us, not our love for God. He sent his Son as the way to take away our sins. That is how much God loved us, dear friends! So we also must love each other. No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us. If we love each other, God’s love has reached its goal-it is made perfect in us.

“Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.” (Ephesians 4:32)