Professor Kim Chang-Wook, a popular instructor, once said during a lecture, “To live well does not mean to be rich, but to get along well,” which makes sense. In order for a person to live a really happy life, they must live in a good relationship. Jesus said that the largest and first of all the commandments in the Bible is to love God with all your heart, strength, and life, and the second is to love your neighbors as yourself. It means that it is more important than anything else to live a good relationship with other people.
In today’s world, it’s becoming more and more difficult to establish a relationship, because text messages have become the mainstream of conversation rather than face-to-face contact. Since people are social beings, they must eventually meet in person in order to establish a real intimate relationship without being businesslike. Texts and emojis are not enough to understand others, as non-verbal languages, such as eyes, voice tone, and gestures play a great role in forming a relationship.
However, as we all know from our experience, forming a relationship isn’t really easy. As the Bible states, humans who left God have fallen. As such, they have a self-centered nature that might hurt other people from time to time in words and actions. That’s why it is common for people to get close to each other but get old before they know it, and the relationship gets worse like people who will never see each other again.
But I know everything about having this relationship because I’ve experienced it, but it’s really not easy. As the Bible proves, humans who left God have fallen, and the characteristic of sin is a self-centered attitude, so they often feel such things from time to time in words and actions, which usually hurts and gets angry. That’s why it is common for people to get close to each other but get old before they know it, and the relationship gets worse to an extent that they will never see each other again.
A good personality and a rich life are achieved when establishing the right relationship. The surest way to learn is to believe in Jesus and establish a relationship with God. God is excellent in this area enough to call himself “love.” Since we humans were built from the beginning to resemble this image of God, we must devote ourselves to the relationship with Him in order to learn love, which is the most important element in our relationship.
I was a person with a lot of flaws, because I grew up without parents and siblings, and I still have a lot to learn. Nevertheless, I was able to mature from my relationship with God – I learned very specifically how to treat people and make conversations with other people. He is the exemplary being who can establish all relationships right way.
In our world, families and churches are the best places to learn and practice such relationships. Of course, even this place is often twisted by the influence of sin, but that place still has the nature of trying to practice unconditional love. A saying goes that a family is a ‘forgiveness school.’
The family relationship, which looks into each other the deepest, is a place where people pour out what they have in their hearts without filtering. It is a place where one’s personality is revealed as it is. It is really painful if parents, who are adults of the family, have a big personal flaw, but we must forgive and love our families with the grace and help from God. This is hard work, but one day you will be independent from your parents, and such difficult time will bear fruits into deeper understanding and compassion in other people. Although it can be difficult sometimes, important relationships such as families and churches should never be given up for such reason.
