It's Complicated: Navigating Life's Relationships
Who we walk with in this life is a choice. Each of those relationships consciously and subconsciously impact the shaping of our lives. It is important that we are judicious in who we let speak into our lives. Proverbs 13:20 tells us that when we hang with fools we are on the road to destruction. Today we are going to look at 5 important relationships and how to discern if they are wise counsel or not.
The goal of this study is to discover the six obstacles to becoming self-aware. “Self-awareness refers to your ability to see yourself clearly and objectively.” It is a problem —both a spiritual and an emotional problem—if we are unable to have a clear and objective view of ourselves. It is good to know our strengths, but also our weaknesses. We need to recognize our talents, but also our limitations. What do people see as virtues of our character and what are our character flaws? This is why it is so important to guard our hearts—the condition of our heart affects everything!
God is not silent on the issue of Fatherhood. God has created and designed this role for a key purpose in His plan for the family and the world. As we continue to look to the Proverbs for insight into our daily relationships, we’ll discover the essential qualities a father must have to lead their families well.
As we continue our series on navigating life’s relationships, we have come to the portion focused on how to deal with conflicts that always seem to happen when you put two people together. Conflict cannot always be avoided, but the Scripture has advice for us in how we should deal with conflict. So this morning, we are going to look to the Proverbs for nine tips in dealing with conflict.
In our message today, I want to focus on four encouragements and one admonition from Proverbs 17. When we speak of encouragement, we have all experienced the afterglow of receiving an encouraging word or text. And sometimes we are on the giving side of it and we’re able to watch as a person’s expression changes from that of defeat to the face of strength. What a blessing it is to both give and receive encouragement! Now when we speak of admonitions—or admonishing someone—we may or may not have a clear understanding of this term. To admonish means “to caution, advise, or counsel against something; to reprove or scold, especially in a mil and good-willed manner.” The Apostle Paul uses this word to describe the work of God’s Word in our lives. He wrote, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom” (Colossians 3:16a).
Our sermon this morning highlights the five keystones for becoming wise men and women of God. “The sort of people that we become is, in large part, determined by the voices that we choose to listen to.” (Adam McHugh) The first voice we must choose to listen to is the voice of Jesus, the Word in flesh. God has given us His Word so that we may know how to live—it is our guidebook for life. But there are innumerable voices that are competing for our attention and many of those voices are trying to seduce us to find fulfillment outside the bounds of Scripture. What voices are we listening to?
When it comes to relationships, there are times in our lives when we can let our anger get the better of us. Something happens that causes us to become angry and before we know it, we have lost control and are doing and saying things that we would never do and say if we were thinking clearly. Thankfully, the Bible makes it clear that there is a better way and provides us with five key truths to teach us how to respond to the situations of life with self-control rather than reacting in anger.
Why do some people respond to situations while others react? when a person responds, he takes into consideration the desired outcome—he thinks first. No thought is given to the outcome when a person is reacting. Reacting is emotional—responding is emotional intelligence. If we want our lives to be characterized by emotional intelligence, then there are six things that we must consider every time we communicate with others.
Continuing on in our sermon series “it’s complicated – Navigating Life’s Relationships”, this week we are diving into Proverbs 31:10-31, Six Virtues of a Woman. There is no relationship more important to growth in the home and intimacy, than that with a mother and a wife. There are two sides to this coin, the importance on how we treat and value them, as well as, a wife and a mother treats others and values herself. “…But a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.”
So for the next ten weeks, we’re going to be focusing on what it looks like to build successful relationships and what skills are needed to build them. Asking: Where do I struggle relationally? What attitudes do I need to change? How can I be more patient with those people who annoy me? What things do I do that annoy those around me? Essentially… how can I be a better_________? For God’s answers to these questions, we’re going to look to some ancient wisdom in the Proverbs.