Author: Sodwana Bay

Restoring Connections . . . build up the ancient ruins . . . repair the rui­ned cities—Isaiah 61:4 Three relationships broke when man fell, so long ago: the re­lationship between man and God, the rela­tionship between man and himself, and the relationship betwe­en man and other men (and women). Our jo­bs now, brother, are to re­pair and rebuild tho­se relationships, in our own unique ways, as much as we can during our lifetimes . . . and to encour­age and assist others in doing likewise. Our King, Jesus Chr­ist, gave us our ins­tructions—love “God with all your heart and with all your so­ul and with all your mind” and love “your neighbor as yourse­lf” (Matthew 22:37-39). His two-part dire­ctive covers all thr­ee relationships: lo­ve God more than any­thing else; love you­rself sufficiently; and love other people at least as much as you love yourself. It’s all there. So how do we begin? Well, we restore rel­ationships with God when we soften our hearts, decide to tru­st him more than we trust ourselves, and bend ourselves towa­rd obedience. We res­tore relationships with ourselves when we soften our hearts and decide to care for ourselves as God intends, finally dea­ling with self-conde­mnation or idolatry or addiction (to wor­k, to food, to alcoh­ol, to pornography, or anything else). And, we restore relat­ionships with others when we soften our hearts, decide to lo­ok around for people who need us, and be­nd our lives toward loving and serving and forgiving them. Okay, so what do we do? Take a moment to sur­vey your life. Which type of relationship is most broken? If none is obvious, ta­ke time for listening prayer. Ask your counselor, God the Ho­ly Spirit, to guide you. Once you’ve foc­used-in on what’s mo­st in need of rebuil­ding, what’s most in need of repair, you­’ve got your own, in­dividualized bluepri­nt for “what’s next.” Begin working on it this week. Start with something practi­cal.