Principles to Guide Our Relationships

Everyone seems to deal differently with other people. Some seem to do it better than others and some are hesitant to talk with those they don’t know. Many people have learned how to do this from others or from books.

As a way to try to get better at dealing with people I read a book by Dale Carnegie titled ‘How to Win Friends and Influence People’ that has sold over 15 million copies according to Wikipedia. The book has several categories including: Six Ways to Make People Like You, Twelve Ways of Winning People to Your Way of Thinking, Nine Ways to Change People Without Giving Offense or Arousing Resentment, Fourteen Rules for Making Your Home Life Easier.

There is another book that I like better titled ‘The Journey’ by Billy Graham that explains how we can have better relationships with others. The excerpt below, in Italics, is from Chapter 21 titled ‘When Others Disappoint’.

You can use the suggestions from either book or from both or from any number of other sources. I encourage you to use the advice from ‘The Journey’ as it is based on the Bible and it will help you understand how God wants you to treat people. The Journey and the Bible will help to change or transform you to be more like Christ whereas the Carnegie book will only change your behavior.

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 ‘The Bible tells us how to put God’s love into action and we need its wisdom and direction. However, it isn’t just a book of rules, telling us exactly how to react in every situation. If it did, it would be hundreds of volumes long, because every person and every situation is different.

Instead the Bible gives us a series of principles to guide our relationships. Like lighthouses along a rocky shore, they warn us of dangers and guide us toward safe waters.

·         Make it your goal to live at peace with others.

·         Treat others the way you would want them to treat you.

·         Pray not only for your friends but for your enemies.

·         Guard your tongue and use it for good instead of evil.

·         Never repay evil with evil.

·         Don’t only avoid revenge but don’t be a captive to the past.

·         Practice the transforming power of forgiveness.

What relationships need strengthening in your life? Don’t wait for them to grow cold or bitter, but ask God to help you strengthen them by putting His love into action – beginning today.’

Read the book for an explanation of each topic and Bible references that support each topic. I found a copy at a ‘Books-A-Million’ Store for $3.97.