[Transcript of “A 5 minute cuppa” published by Horley Baptist Church on YouTube[1], May 2021]
Hi everyone, welcome to ‘a five minute cuppa’. This is the place that you can come any time of day, just for five minutes, to relax, put your feet up, have a cuppa and listen to a few words to help you grow in your relationship with God.
Over the last couple of weeks we have been thinking about how God prompts us to pray for people that are on his heart and we have been practising blessing others and doing them good by speaking through the acronym ‘b l e s s‘ bless – asking for God to do people good in their body, in their labour, their emotions, their social and spiritual relationships.
Today we’re going to think about how we can pray for people and have a good attitude towards them if for some reason we don’t naturally get along or if the relationship isn’t at all easy. It could be a work colleague, a family member, a political figure or well-known personality. It might even be someone that we once got on with well but the relationship or friendship has broken down or failed. I’m sure we can all think of people that we struggle with. Is it possible to pray for these people in the way we do for those that are naturally on our hearts?
I suppose we could just ignore these people in situations – at least we’re not purposefully hurting them. It seems to me though that this isn’t an option for a follower of Jesus. Those famous words of Jesus ring in my ears: “Love your enemies and pray for those that do you harm”.
Is that even possible, humanly speaking? When we look at the world around us both near and far it doesn’t look at all possible. But I believe that when we choose to ask God to come in and help rather than taking the easier option of ignoring or giving into bad thoughts, he does come alongside and show us surprising possibilities that were not at all on our radar. When I am in this situation struggling with the relationship there are two questions I dare to ask God that he always seems to answer.
First, I ask him to show me how he sees the person, not in their failed state but how God created their inner person before life did harm to them. In other words, I’m asking God “Why do you like this person, what is so amazing about them?”
Then I ask him to show me what has happened to them to make them the way they are, the things that have formed the negative characteristics that may cause problems both for the person and for those around them.
The result of this is always the same: God softens my heart towards them. I often find I can be with them happily or I can be in the same place and not be affected by the feelings associated with that person previously. Over time I find that rather than choosing to ignore the difficulties I can acknowledge them and pray and bless the person, honestly wanting the best for them. God is full of surprises; he can and does make important relationships happen when we least expect it. He can even rebuild relationships that we think are irretrievably broken.
God is all about making damaged relationships whole. After all, that is the main message of the cross on which our faith firmly stands.
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[1] YouTube link: Surprising Relationships
Bible references: Matthew 5 v44
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Contributed by Sandy Turner; © the Author
