Relationships Vs Things- Which Are More Important (Advice to my Eighteen-year-old Self Part 7)

 


It was a big day today. My daughters turned twenty today. One of my daughters lives out of town in order to attend college while the other recently moved out to live on her own. Because of this, we had to book way in advance to spend time with both of them. Even with this, we still had to grab one daughter and drive down to see the other for their birthday. Spending time reminded me of my next piece of advice for my eighteen-year-old self. 7) Relationships are always more important than stuff. This is not a popular statement in today's world where we put value on taking care of yourself and building protective boundaries to keep people from hurting you. If anything, what we really build is isolation and, eventually, loneliness because it is impossible to be in a relationship with someone without them hurting you and vice versa. This is where forgiveness comes into the picture. The Bible is the most radical lifestyle because it totally goes against worldview. Where worldview says remove toxic people from your life, the Bible says to love your enemies, pray for those who despitefully use you, turn the other cheek, and forgive seventy times seventy. This translates into letting go of hurts and wrongs. Someone destroys something of yours? Forgive. Someone steals something from you? Forgive. Their soul is more important than stuff. Someone lies? Forgive. God doesn't value how high you can rise in a company, how many likes or followers you can accumulate, or how many things you own. It's all temporary and fades. The only thing on this Earth that is of value to God is you! The souls of man are the reason Jesus came and died, and they are what God wants. So if someone wrongs me, I need to remember that they are more important to God than anything else. Because of this, out of love for God, I choose to restore my relationship with them and love them as Christ loves me. I choose to let go of petty things and embrace forgiveness. Is this easy? Absolutely not! But it also allows me to know I'm in right-standing with God and can go to sleep peacefully knowing the rest is in God's hands. 

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