“Fragile. Handle With Care!” How often we read this on packaged merchandise! How much more so is this counsel important in our relationships as husband and wife, with our children and among friends. Relationships can so easily be broken and take a long time to mend. So, handle with care!
Relationships are built on trust and trust comes by being trustworthy. This means keeping your word and not breaking your promises. Marriage involves commitment to one another. It is based on promises. We raise children, not by deceiving them and telling them lies to get our way with them (I see too much of this!) but by doing what we say. Before we employ a roofer or a plumber, we look for recommendations: is he trustworthy? Will he keep his word?
When relationships are based on truth and honesty, there is trust, and where there is trust, society prospers. But relationships based on bribes, deceit and lies will not prosper. Such a society shows there is no fear of God. When there is no fear of God, there is no basis for trust. This is where the problem begins.
One way we show love for God and for our neighbor is telling the truth and being honest. In one of the Ten Commandments, God says, “You shall not bear false witness.” What does God require in this commandment? One answer, which summarizes the teaching of the Bible, says in part, “I must avoid all lying and deceit as the devil’s own works, under the penalty of God’s wrath. In court and everywhere else I must love the truth, speak and confess it honestly, and do what I can to defend and promote my neighbour's honour and reputation” (from the Heidelberg Catechism).
People will always disappoint us, but there is One we can absolutely trust. And this is God. He cannot lie and you can rely on every one of His promises in Jesus; who is the way, the truth and the life. A question people often ask is, ‘How do we know the Bible is true?’ The answer is, ‘The Bible says so. God cannot lie.’
As families, as a society, we need to return to God and His Word, the Bible. He establishes a new relationship with all who trust in Christ. He is the foundation for trust in our relationships; our marriage, our family and in our society. Relationships are fragile. Do handle with care!