Relationships

This weekend, Jordan and I were blessed with the wonderful opportunity to attend a marriage conference (hopefully our first of many J) with speaker being Dr. Paul Tripp.

And while the conference was officially a “marriage” conference, I walked away with a renewed perspective on relationships in general which was great for me who is living in a house with three other girls – an experience that has been an incredible challenge for me this year. I've realized how incredibly sinful my heart can be and how destructive it can be to relationships. And it is so depressing -- so depressing that something so important, so eternal (relationships with other people) can be destroyed by my own selfish desires and my own pride and my own entitlement. 

So – what did I take away from Dr. Tripp’s message that has the potential to change my view on housemate relationships.  ((Just realized I’m going to feel some serious weight to not be hypocritical after actually blogging about this))

1.       It is never ever ever ever going to be about me --- and that’s the way it should be!

This world, by it’s very nature, the way God created it to be, is based upon the celebration of the other. This is the trinity—each member exalts one another. And we are created to image God’s Trinitarian nature. That means exalting others rather than ourselves.

So housemate application—it doesn’t matter what I think. It doesn’t matter what I might think I deserve or I’m entitled to or what I think is important. My goal should be to honor and serve my housemates sacrificially regardless of whether or not there is ANY personal benefit for myself. It doesn’t matter if they don’t give me credit, don’t want to be my friend, or don’t even talk to me – I serve them out of Love because God first loved me – even though I did not deserve it.  (Pretty obvious how this applies to marriage too J)

2.       Worship God to change my relationships

Worship God as creator – God has created each of my housemates in a radically different and beautiful way. God has created them different from myself (different habits, priorities, etc)  and when I think that they should change I curse God. I am saying that I would be a better creator than THE creator. I can worship God when I see all the great and wonderful aspects of God's creation in the quirks and habits and personalities of each of my housemates. 

Worship God as Sovereign- Each of my housemates comes with a different background and set of experiences (sovereignly given to them by the Lord) that will affect their behavior and their perspective. Additionally, God has soverignly placed these three wonderful girls into my life to magnify the sin and weaknesses in my life – so that I might humbly submit myself to God and accept his grace and be more transformed into the image of God by becoming more holy (or sanctified).

Worship God as Savior- I cannot change my housemates. All of us have sin in our lives which destroys relationships but God is faithful and he gives us grace. I cannot change my housemates by throwing the law in their face (I wouldn’t want that!), but I can image and worship God by extending to them the same grace that God has so abundantly poured out on my own life.