He was surprised to see me at the event. He reasoned I must have paid a huge price to make it down. My response to him was, “you are worth more than the price I pay. You have invested a lot into our relationship.”
Friend, relationship is an investment; you cannot withdraw more than what you put in. You need to know that with those whom you are in relationship, you have got an emotional bank; every of your action is either crediting that account or depleting it. Your acts of kindness is crediting your account while your inaction or unkind act is doing otherwise.
Investing in your relationships means that you would not be in a hurry to reap. Just like in every investment, there is time to invest and there is time to make withdrawals; you cannot withdraw too early. The law of seed time and harvest holds here (Genesis 8:22). You cannot harvest in a relationship you have not sown into. Focus more on sowing than reaping (Ecclesiastes 11:1, 6).
Invest in your relationship with God; you cannot sow into the flesh and expect to reap in the Spirit (Galatians 6:7-8). You cannot sleep on the laps of Delilah and expect to wake up in the Bosom of Abraham. When you sow seeds of prayers, you would reap harvest of sensitivity and accuracy when you are at the crossroad of decision (Romans 8:14, Jude 1:20). You cannot withdraw power when you have not invested in intimacy (Acts 4:13, 24,31-33).
“Marriage is a reward, it is not a gift.” While it is okay to admire great marriages, you need to understand that such marriages do not just happen, the parties involved took their time to build it. It is the investment you make into your spouse and relationship, right from courtship days, that you would later reap. For a lasting marriage, you need to invest in building capacity rather than just being in love.
Learn to service your relationships. Don’t have an entitlement mentality. Nobody owes you anything, but you owe the relationship quality investments that would later yield dividends. You need to invest time, kindness, resources, services and whatever it is that is worth contributing. Don’t have a taker’s mentality, have a giver’s mentality. It is more blessed to give than to receive (Acts 20:35).
© ‘Demola Awoyele
Lead Pastor,
Destiny Impact Church
Akure, Nigeria