“Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.” Ephesians 4:2
Matt Bird, a Christian speaker, author and businessman says: ‘Relationships are the currency of life and business.’
In other words, every transaction in life is dependent on the quality of relationships. Everything that we seek to do requires relationships. Relationships are central to the extent to which we can impact lives for good. The nature and quality of the relationships we have, affect the nature and quality of our lives and the nature and quality of the impact we have in life. If we want to grow our impact, then we need to spend time cultivating and developing relationships with people who are like-minded and with the people who God would have us impact.
If ever there was a land that has experienced relational breakdown it is Ireland. Our history is littered with occasions when relationships broke down, people stopped talking to one another and long-lasting divisions formed as a result of a failure to rebuild broken relationships.
Back in the New Testament times, Jesus formed many relationships, on many levels. However, He developed three core relationships:
a) Relationship with His Father
b) Relationship with His team (disciples and friends)
c) Relationship with those he impacted (both religious and irreligious)
If we are to have the level of impact that we were designed to have here in Ireland then we need to deepen our relationship with God, grow in relationship with those who God has or is drawing alongside us, and develop relational connections to those God is calling us to impact.
Investing in relationships is key to seeing Ireland transformed. When we intentionally invest time in building afresh our relationship with the Father, our relationships with our brothers and sisters (even in denominations we don’t like), and our relationships with people who do not know Jesus, it is then that we will see revival sweep this land.
One hundred years since the partition of the island of Ireland, it is time, like never before to rebuild relationships.
Father, will You help us as we seek to build a deeper relationship with You, with our other brothers and sisters and with those we are seeking to see come into an encounter with You. May our impact for the Kingdom of God grow as we invest time in these relationships. In Jesus’ name, Amen.