A sad letter home …

Before going any further, please take just a moment to click on this link http://bit.ly/1cI2nLW and read the remarkable story about the deciphering of an 1,800-year-old letter written by an ancient soldier to his family.

I found the letter to be deeply moving, as it revealed the aching heart of a young soldier far from home. He has written multiple letters to his family, but hasn’t received any response. Something is wrong, and he is concerned about what it might be. He intends on asking for leave to go home and work out whatever the problem is.

Throughout history, nothing has impacted lives like the relationships we experience. From being a source of great joy, to the reason for an aching heart, our relationships shake our lives to the core. So piercing are our relationships that they can even impede our worship of God.

Jesus knew how our human relationships can rock our world, so He taught us this …

“So if you are presenting a sacrifice at the alter in the Temple and you suddenly remember that someone has something against you, leave your sacrifice there at the alter. Go and be reconciled to that person. Then come and offer your sacrifice to God,” Matthew 5:23-24.

If you’re trying to worship God while ignoring broken relationships, you’ll likely discover you’re just hampering your relationship with God while overlooking the hurt that remains between you and others. If you want a deep communion with God, you’ll have to get serious about making right other relationships in your life. You cannot love God and harbor harmful feelings toward others …

“If someone says, ‘I love God,’ but hates a Christian brother or sister, that person is a liar; for if we don’t love people we can see, how can we love God, whom we cannot see? And he has given us this command: Those who love God must also love their Christian brothers and sisters,” 1 John 4:20-21.

“Do all that you can to live in peace with everyone,” Romans 12:18.

Is your heart aching over hurt relationships? Then go and do what you can to mend them. Ask God to help you make peace with others and to love others in the same way He loves us.

Scotty