God has designed you and me to be relational people. Our success, fulfillment, and happiness depends partly on our ability to relate to other people.
You see, the wisdom of God from His Holy Word leads to right thinking. This leads to right actions, right feelings, and right relationships.
One way to be a person who is a blessing to others is to develop qualities that you personally are attracted to in others.
THE KEY TO RELATING TO OTHERS…
It’s putting yourself in someone else’s place instead of putting them in their place
Oswald Chambers whose book “My Utmost for His Highest,” was compiled from notes his wife Biddy had taken from his talks to service men in Cairo, Egypt said this,
“To intercede for someone is to get into their shoes and to look through their eyes and to feel what they feel.”
Jesus gave us a perfect rule for establishing quality human relationships. We call it The Golden Rule, a name it got sometime around the 17th Century. It’s near the end of the Sermon on the Mount, where Jesus said,
“Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.” Matthew 7:12
So, we need to:
Decide – How we want to be treated.
Begin – Treating others in that manner.
If you want people to act right toward you, be the first to act right toward them.
5 WAYS YOU WANT OTHERS TO TREAT YOU
- ENCOURAGEMENT
To simply reach down and lift you up. Your best friend will probably this kind of person. We tend to avoid those who put us down. It’s a natural response in danger and in hurt.
A farmer’s son told me once, “My father thought the best way to teach me self-reliance was to never encourage me or praise me.”
Let’s encourage others, and be the first to do it!
- APPRECIATION
Someone has said, “The deepest principle in human nature is the craving to be appreciated.”
Try this, within the first 30 seconds of conversation with others, try to say something that shows your appreciation and affirmation.
Do not be tight-fisted with your praise of others. There is no value in thinking it. Tell them when they are doing well.
- FORGIVENESS
Forgiveness frees us from guilty emotions and allows us to interact positively with other people.
In God’s Holy Word we have our checkmate!
Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.
- “Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice.”
- “Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.” Ephesians 4:30-32
- LISTENING
Hearing someone can be just an acknowledgement that they are present and have said something. Listening is different. It is wanting to hear. A leaning forward to listen.
Now, in this matter of wanting people to listen to you, you must be honest with yourself. Are you interesting and inspiring? Why should people listen to you?
Plan to be interesting to others when they listen to you. It simply makes listening to you easier and more engaging. Be a reader!
- UNDERSTANDING
Have a balance when you communicate with others. You listen and you speak. Practice a balance. This way they can better be able to understand you. Work at it. Do not expect people to understand you if you are hard to understand. Again, work at it.
Remember what Jesus said, “Whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them …”
Be the first to do these 5 things with others and watch what happens!