RELATIONSHIP WITH OTHERS

“I pray that the Lord will bless you, just as he used to bless my father. 14-15 Someday the Lord will wipe out all of your enemies. Then if I’m still alive, please be as kind to me as the Lord has been. But if I’m dead, be kind to my family”. 1 Samuel 20:13-15.

Greetings to you in the Name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost. May the good LORD bless you and your family. Hope you would have meditated on Christ and His cross during the last month. He lives to wipe out all my weaknesses. What a glorious God is our God!

What captures our attention controls our life. What you pay attention to, not only controls your own brain, but sets the example for your team. The key is always about wanting to build relationships. It must be that at the end of the day, the things that we have communicated, all the things that we have worked together, have gone to build a relationship. The truth is that we are always influencing people, for good or for bad.

Life isn’t just about yourself. Whether you like it or not, remember we are always influencing people, for good or for bad. he biblical story of the relationship between David, future king of Israel, and Jonathan, crown prince and expected future king of Israel, has garnered much attention and affection. Here we see how true devotion—or perhaps even more than that—has major ramifications, leading to the glorious rule of David. It is a story of love and friendship. It is also a story that makes very little historical sense.

In their first scene together, Jonathan and David make a covenant and, though it is unclear what the contents of the covenant are, the ceremony by which they cement it has great importance: “Jonathan took off the cloak and tunic he was wearing and gave them to David, together with his sword, bow, and belt” (1 Sam 18:4). Though this may seem a rather strange thing to do, remember that Jonathan is not any youngster—he is the king’s son, the crown prince, the presumptive heir to the throne. His clothing and equipment would not be that of the common man or soldier. He would be wearing royal garb, equipped with royal arms. Giving these to David is highly symbolic. It is simultaneously an act of abdication and of anointment. David, not Jonathan, is dressed as the next in line to be king.

When Jonathan agrees to find out Saul’s intentions regarding David, he again debases himself before David, though this time verbally. He says that if Saul is in fact trying to kill David, “But should it please my father to do you harm, the Lord do so to Jonathan and more also if I do not disclose it to you and send you away, that you may go in safety. May the Lord be with you, as he has been with my father.  If I am still alive, show me the steadfast love of the Lord, that I may not die; 15 and do not cut off your steadfast love from my house forever, when the Lord cuts off every one of the enemies of David from the face of the earth.” 16 And Jonathan made a covenant with the house of David, saying, “May the Lord take vengeance on David’s enemies.” 17 And Jonathan made David swear again by his love for him, for he loved him as he loved his own soul” 1 Samuel 20: 13-17.

Maybe it’s time that we began to take responsibility for people around us. Let’s see what captures our attention. Make sure that those things are good things because they have the potential to control not only our life, but also the lives of people all around us. So let’s make sure that what captures our attention are things that would add and enhance the quality of not only our life but of the people around us.

That’s the challenge that I believe we need to take with us today. Let it not be about us; let it be about people around us and how we can enhance the quality of their life. And as we do that, automatically we will find that our quality of life has also been enhanced.

Would you turn your eyes and your attention away from ourselves? May the good LORD help us to see people around us. Help us to focus on them. Help our thoughts to dwell on good things, things of good repute. Help us to think of things that are excellent so that that controls our life and in turn, control the lives of people all around us. May we move away from our rights to the responsibilities that we have towards other people around us