Show Notes
We are continuing our teaching about relationships. We lay a foundation for the types of relationships in this podcast. This quality is so important to starting and maintaining any relationship. Listen in to find out!
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Episode Transcript
Speaker 1 00:00:13 Welcome to the Life Refresh podcast. My name is Ryan Robinson, and if you are looking for a podcast that is designed to uplift, encourage and revive your heart, mind, and spirit. You're in the right place. Welcome to the journey of Becoming the version of You God designed from the found.
Speaker 0 00:00:35 Now's
Speaker 1 00:00:36 Begin.
Speaker 1 00:00:52 Hello and welcome back to the Life Free Fresh podcast. It is me yet again, Ryan Robinson. Um, if you haven't, make sure that you subscribe and share with, uh, someone that you care about. I think the, this particular series is really important to share, uh, because I think as many of us do, if we don't have some kind of relationship with someone, um, they may not be a best friend, but they may be an associate, they may be a family member, it may be an advocate. Um, you may not necessarily align personally, but you all are for or against a particular topic or subject. So I think someone you may know may get value out of this as well. Now, I'm gonna just jump right into it. I think the first building block that we talked about, uh, about relationships is one, understanding how key and critical they are, and having relational intelligence in regards to, uh, a component of that being emotional intelligence and, uh, IQ co, uh, intelligent coefficient as well.
Speaker 1 00:02:12 But I think even more than that, we need to fundamentally understand that in order for us to have relationships, we at our core must be available for relationship. I'm gonna say that again. In order for us to be in relationship, we have to be available for relationships. Okay? Many of us may ignore opportunities or may not even see opportunities to connect with someone simply because we are not wired to seek and connect with other people. We have those, uh, that are introverted. There are, are those who are extroverted. I don't care if you are, whatever vert you are, omni vert, whatever. I think that there is a, a key component to understand that we all have levels of relationship with people, yet it is very important that we are in relationship with someone. Jesus had a relationship with many. Um, we have the, the, the multitude that were sent out from Matthew 28, 19 and 20 that say, Go, you therefore teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son, the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I've commanded you and low I be with you always, even until the end of the earth.
Speaker 1 00:03:53 And then this is essentially where they went two by two. They would two by two in order to achieve what Jesus had sent them and commissioned them out to do. Then you have another level of the 12 apostles. So again, there are people that are in close proximity with that you live life with. You may not all share the deepest commentary or de or deep moments, but you guys live life together. So you have a multitude, a select few. And then Jesus had a core few, which was Peter, James, and John. Out of the 12, only three got to see Jesus in his true form. At the amount of transfiguration, they, there were only three that went with him to the garden of gsem, meaning gsem, meaning pressing. There is only a few people that you can include in your circle. So setting this up, there's gonna be actually probably another few, uh, more lessons in regards to those three levels of relationship, uh, the multitude, the select few, and the core few.
Speaker 1 00:05:36 But in order for any of that to have or make sense in itself, we first have to make ourselves available for relationship. Um, I've quoted this book many times, many times, and the book that I'm gonna be referencing yet again is the book of Proverbs. The book of Proverbs is the book of wisdom that is written by, uh, and coined, and excuse me, is authored by King Solomon, who was not only the wisest man to have ever lived, he was also was the wealthiest. So I would consider that if he has a few things to say about relationships, I think that I, I'm gonna bring him to you because I think there's a lot of value in understanding his perspective on relationship. And again, wisdom being a download from God himself. It is something that once you receive knowledge, applying that properly is what we call wisdom.
Speaker 1 00:06:53 Okay? So let's continue to glean a little bit from, uh, King Solomon in a few of these moments. Uh, and again, all of this really sets the, the stage for what we, what I previously mentioned, um, before. So I want to go to Proverbs verse 18, Chap, uh, excuse me, Chapter 1824. And we're gonna just go on the a clause, uh, on this. And it says this, A man who has friends must himself be friendly. It is the clearest way to get a friend to be friendly. Have you ever tried to make friends with someone who was mean? It's very difficult because people just don't want to be around mean folk. Uh, I would like for you to evaluate, and you might be cool with it, but if you are mean and you are upset that you don't have friends, this proverb should be a guide for you that a man who has friends must himself be friendly.
Speaker 1 00:08:08 Super important, overly basic, but true nonetheless. Okay? Um, and this book continues to speak on a couple of things in regards to difficult, you know, relationships. But I, I think at some point, once we make ourselves available for relationship, not only just showing ourselves to be friendly, there is a level of vulnerability and access that should be provided due to the conditions of a relationship. Now, when, uh, someone has to go first in that there has to be some vulnerability, some, some intention of sharing once piece of, of themselves with another person, and depending on where you are, you just don't share all these deep details without having time invested. As I was mentioning in the previous podcast, there has to be some level of investment that is shared with not just the, the, the recipient of the information, but it also has to be reciprocated to the person, uh, who is, uh, on the other end of the relationship. But you can only go as deep as you are willing to reveal and share with someone else. And as the example I gave previously, Jesus himself only shared the deep and most painful moments and most beautiful moments of his life with only three out of the 12,
Speaker 1 00:10:00 With only three out of the 12. Not saying that Jesus didn't love them, it loved the 12 any less, but he did recognize that there is a level of access that only three people can handle. So I, I I, I want to reiterate how critical it is and how actually okay it is to have levels of relationship with people. Okay, maybe you only align with playing sports or enjoying a favorite football team, or whatever the case is. There might be something that binds you together, but there are other moments
Speaker 1 00:10:50 Where you get to the level of the three, where there's a story behind why you like the team or why you do the things that you do. Those behind the scene, things have to be revealed in an atmosphere of trust. And honestly, you can't share everything with everyone. Unfortunately, some of us have learned that the hard way, But yet again, I think there's amazing opportunity for us to share, uh, some things, but we have to be selective o on that and open ourselves up. So, um, a couple things before we start the next podcast, talking about the multitude, uh, and, and what level of relationship that looks like. But, um, Proverbs chapter 27 speaks to some of the requirements that friendship demands. Okay? Chapter 27 will begin at verse, uh, six, Wounds from a friend can be trusted, but an enemy multiplies kisses.
Speaker 1 00:12:12 What does this mean? There's an illustration from or by Dr. Henry Cloud, uh, in, in one of his books. And, uh, Dr. Henry Cloud mentioned, I think I mentioned this on a previous podcast once before, but there was an example of the dentist. I think many of us go to the dentist at least twice a year, <laugh>, uh, I hope. But the dentist is designed to hurt us, <laugh>. Um, I, I don't know if anyone has gone to the dentist and has never gotten a moment where they felt no pain. Um, if, if they've, if you felt no pain, I, I, I really would argue with the fact that you have, uh, <laugh> that you have teeth. But, um, the, the, the dentist hurts us when, when he or she cleans our teeth, when they floss, when they, they go in deep with water picks or whatever their instrument is to scrape off the plaque from our, our teeth. There's all kinds of things. That stuff is not pleasant. That stuff is not pleasant. Um, and, and, and, uh, it, it's painful sometimes, but at the end, it is designed to help us get better, because through that, you can get better. It is also said that when someone goes through surgery, the painful part isn't the surgery, It is the recovery afterwards that takes the most time, but you're healing.
Speaker 1 00:14:03 So when we have the most pain at times, it is also an indicator that we're also healing at the same time. So the Bible is speaking that wounds from a friend can be trusted. Why? Because a friend loves me enough to hurt my feelings to keep me from hurting myself. But it says, but an enemy multiplies kisses. Now, if that same dentist gives you permission to eat all the candy that you wish without brushing your teeth or washing or rinsing your mouth with mouthwash or, or all the routines that we're supposed to do, of course it seems delightful and fun to just eat all that we want, But at the end of the day, over a period of time, compounded over months, you're gonna get a cavity. Now, if you have a friend that's not willing to speak truth to you, I would gather that you might have someone that's in the multitude who's isn't worthy of a friendship, something to evaluate. Okay? Um, we're gonna go to continuing on in Proverbs 27, verse nine. Uh, perfume and incense bring joy to the heart and the pleasantness of a friend spring from their heartfelt advice.
Speaker 1 00:15:35 I think it's powerful to note that there is, even speaking to a friend with advice, that thing that's powerful, getting that kind of advice and insight from someone you care about deeply let's you know how you all think. But again, we have to be available to see what the other person's thinking. That's why. Yet again, having a few friends makes this a little bit easier versus having a ton of them <laugh>, because you can't share this level of depth with just anyone. But I think it's really cool to understand like, Hey, this is gonna be, it'll bear fruit, you know, the more we deal and dig in to life together. And, uh, the last one that I'm gonna reference out of these, um, is one that you might see commonly in, uh, workout spaces or in gyms, uh, in, in schools across the nation, um, or on Instagram, Facebook, what have you.
Speaker 1 00:16:45 Um, Bible says, as iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another. Okay? Now, I don't know if you have seen ironing sharpening iron, um, but I would suggest going on YouTube and checking out what that looks like. But, um, not only is the material of iron equal to sharpening itself against itself, sometimes there sparks that fly <laugh> as a result of that, okay? And, and going back up to, you know, trusting the wounds of a friend. Sometimes when you have friendships, there are gonna be sparks, there are going to be disagreements. There are gonna be moments where we are frustrated with another person, but there is safety in being that transparent. Because if you can't be your full self, when you're misunderstood, when you're angry, when you're frustrated not at the other person, perhaps at the other situation, at the situation at hand, or even maybe at that person, there has to be an understanding that at the end of the day, you are my friend. You are my friend. And eventually we can come, not only just build each other up, we can challenge each other. We can be transparent enough, and I can trust you not to just tell me what I want to hear, but tell me what I need to hear so that I can move forward in my life.
Speaker 1 00:18:29 Now, you could take this, uh, podcast today and utilize it to evaluate how available are you to relationship, and then also use that as a way to evaluate the relationships, uh, that you have currently not. So let me say this again so I can clarify. You could use this podcast to grade yourself on how good of a friend you are to others, as well as how good of a friend are others to me. Now, I only use three A scriptures in from the book of Proverbs, but I highly suggest going through this book, reading, uh, some of these scriptures, or utilize the ones that I just mentioned as a way to get yourself grounded. Uh, we only get the word, uh, that we work.
Speaker 1 00:19:33 Uh, I think it's also powerful for you to again, uh, embrace these and go through the Bible here and, and look for examples of what deep relationship looks like. I'm utilizing Jesus for all, for the examples, or at least the levels of relationship because Jesus, even though his ministry was only three years, uh, three years on this earth, he set an amazing example of not only how we need to have relationship with God the father, but how we should be relating to those that are around us that we're in relationship with, and that we are in community with. So we will continue to utilize, uh, these examples as we move on to the next or the highest level of relationship. And that is the multitude. Make sure you share the podcast and I'll see you on the next one.
Speaker 1 00:20:39 Thank you for tuning into the Life Refresh podcast. There are three things I'll need you to do before you go. One, subscribe to this podcast, whether it be through Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Spotify, wherever you listen to podcast. Make sure that you subscribe to get the latest episode in your feed. Two, rank the podcast. If you like what you heard today, make sure you give it a great rating on those platforms. It'll help get us the exposure we need to make our message much broader and reach a different audience. And three, make sure you share this episode. I guarantee if you found value in it, someone you're connected to will find value in it as well. With that said, take care and tune next episode of.
