Our 4th Gift To Manage: Relationships -- Part 1

I want to start with a story today that Max Lucado tells in his book, In the Eye of the Storm …

Clovis Chappell, a minister from a century back, used to tell the story of two paddleboats. They left Memphis about the same time, traveling down the Mississippi River to New Orleans. As they traveled side by side, sailors from one vessel made a few remarks about the snail's pace of the other. Words were exchanged. Challenges were made. And the race began. Competition became vicious as the two boats roared through the Deep South.

One boat began falling behind. Not enough fuel. There had been plenty of coal for the trip, but not enough for a race. As the boat dropped back, an enterprising young sailor took some of the ship's cargo and tossed it into the ovens. When the sailors saw that the supplies burned as well as the coal, they fueled their boat with the material they had been assigned to transport. They ended up winning the race, but burned their cargo.

God has entrusted cargo to us, too: children, spouses, friends. Our job is to do our part in seeing that this cargo reaches its destination. Yet when the program takes priority over people, people often suffer. How much cargo do we sacrifice in order to achieve the number one slot? How many people never reach the destination because of the aggressiveness of a competitive captain?

It's so easy in the race of life to focus so much on trying to achieve and win that we forget what's really important in our lives!

Many of us don't realize the gifts that God's given us in the people he's put in our lives.

When we get to the end of our lives we're not going to wish we owned more things or had more power or fame or got more degrees!

On your deathbed, none of these things are going matter anymore!

What will matter? You're going to wish you had more relationships and that you would've treasured and invested more in the ones you had!

The fourth gift that God has given us to manage in life is relationships. We'll talk more about that in a minute, but first...

Let me let’s go over what we’re trying to do in this series.

4 Sundays ago we started our “Life Management” series and I told you…

God has given you (and will give you) all of the "raw materials" and opportunities you need to reach your full potential.

At the end of our lives, no one is going to be able to blame God that he didn’t give them what they needed to make it in this life.

Whether you reach your full potential, or not, will be based on how you managed what you've been given. Did you waste your gifts or cherish them?

For 5 Sundays, we're looking at 5 of the most important raw materials you've been given to form your life with. I'm calling these 5 raw materials "5 Gifts" that God has given you to manage.

The FIRST week, I talked about the first gift that God has given us to manage, which is TIME.

We looked at this is the building block of all we do in life. I talked to you about the idea of giving your time to be with God and investing your time in ways so you’ll see payback now and in eternity.

You only have 1440 minutes given to everyday. If you sleep 7 hours that leaves you 1020 minutes. You can never get more. The only way to make more time is by managing it better. How we manage our time becomes our worship to God.

It makes Time Management a holy thing!

The SECOND week, I talked about the second gift that God has given us to manage, which is health. I showed you in the Bible that God cares about all of us – not just our Spiritual Health, but also our Mental, Emotional and Physical health.

I told you that how you manage your gift of health will decide the quantity and quality of your life.

Last Week, I talked about the third gift God has given us to manage, which is our wealth. It’s one of the only gifts that has a dangerous side to it. I told you that God is the one that gives us ability to gain wealth.

God cares how we handle our wealth. We saw in what Jesus said at the end of a parable in Luke that, in some ways, how we manage our wealth is “practice” for the TRUE riches that God wants to give us!

I showed you three ways that will help us to manage our wealth better: don’t waste it, grow it and share/give it. You can read these last three talks here on the “Life Management” Blog. Don’t forget to email your friends any posts that you think they’d like!

Today we’re going to look at this 4th gift: Relationships.

God’s given us relationships to help us. If you think about it, relationships are the real currency of life! Relationships matter to God! Think about how much of the Bible is about why/how to interact with people!

Here's just some of what God's word tells us...

"Do for others what you would like them to do for you."
Matthew 7:12

"Stop judging others, and you will not be judged."
Matthew 7:1 (Jesus of Nazareth)

"And why worry about a speck in your friend's eye when you have a log in your own?"
Matthew 7:3 (Jesus of Nazareth)

"Love your enemies! Do good to them! Lend to them! And don't be concerned that they might not repay. Then your reward from heaven will be very great, and you will truly be acting as children of the Most High, for he is kind to the unthankful and to those who are wicked. You must be compassionate, just as your Father is compassionate."
Luke 6:25-26 (Jesus of Nazareth)

This book teaches us to treasure people – to treasure our relationships!

It's a manual on successful human relationships!

I want you to realize something...

We were created for relationships! Daniel Goleman the author of the books “Emotional Intelligence” and “Primal Leadership” just recently came out with a book called “Social Intelligence”. I've been reading it and it reveals some pretty amazing things about the science of relationships!

One thing he says is that our minds are wired to connect! They are designed to connect with others! Listen to what he says...

“…our nervous systems are ‘constructed to be captured by the nervous systems of others, so that we can experience others as if from within their skin. At such moments we resonate with their experience, and they with ours. We can no longer… see our minds as so independent, separate and isolated, but instead we must view them as “permeable,” continually interacting as though joined by an invisible link.”

One of our core beliefs as a church is that you need two connections to succeed and reach your full potential: a connection (relationship) with God and a connection with others.

If you don't have BOTH of these connections, then you won't be able to reach your full potential!

It's obvious that without a connection to God you can't reach your full potential, but even with a connection to God, but not a connection to others you still can't become all that God created you to be!

When it was just God and Adam in the Garden of Eden, God said, “It's not good for man to be alone.” People were created for us to have relationship with, as a gift because relationships are a good thing. They’re what we need!!

Learning how to manage and grow in our relationships is one of the most important things we can do.

Dale Carnegie in his classic book “How To Win Friends And Influence People” said…

“Dealing with people is probably the biggest problem you face, especially if you are a business man. Yes, and that is also true if you are a housewife, architect, or engineer.”

A little later he gives the results from a Carnegie Institute Of Technology study that revealed..

“…even in such technical lines as engineering, about 15% of one’s financial success is due to one’s technical knowledge and about 85% is due to skill in human engineering – to personality and the ability to lead people.”

Learning how to handle relationships with others in one of the most important skills we can have!

I want to remind us today about some of the benefits God's given us in the gift of relationships and try to inspire us all to cherish and manage this gift more!

I'll show you the first thing I want you to see about relationships when I continue tomorrow...