What drives our relationships?

Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.

Ephesians 4:32

These apostolic commands are meant to drive relationships Christians have with other people. They make good sense as they are the moral expectations we all have for how we want people to treat us. We like it when people are kind to us, understanding of us, and forgiving of us. The hard part of the command is for us to have the same moral expectation for our own actions to other people. It’s easy for me to want you to be kind. It’s hard for me to be kind to you. It is all very complicated when hurt feelings or perceived offenses get in the way. And unfortunately, this is often the case. That’s why we need to pay attention to these words.

I can think of no better social medicine that kindness. It can prevent offense. I have yet to hear of someone upset that a person was “too kind”. Kindness creates harmony. This is a great thing.

Along with kindness, compassion is true concern for another person, and it also goes a long way to enhancing our relationships. Tender hearted people will see a person instead of a problem. Compassion will lead us to actively care, not just make a comment and move on. Tender hearted Christians put hands and feet to the love of Christ as the gospel gets very real in true life situations.

And of course forgiveness is the one thing that the church has that no other institution can truly claim. We forgive by one standard only —- the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ! That’s really high. He is why and how we can forgive one another. The highest standards possible drive the way that Christians relate to people. Do we really live that way?