Ironically, the biggest problem we have as human beings, is being able to relate to each other in a way which is meaningful.
Some years ago now, a major retail chain commissioned a group of psychologists to do a study on people who make up their key demographic, ‘millennials’ - those born between1981-2000.
After interviewing more than 800 people, an alarming picture was built up of an increasingly lonely and lost generation.
The results did not seem to be real, so a second study was commissioned, showing the same results.
It seemed that more people were living alone than at any other point of history, leading to feelings of acute aloneness and loneliness.
It seems that this trend has continued into ‘Gen Y’ and ‘Gen Z’.
People are spending more time on social media than they are with ‘real’ human beings.
While people claim to have many online ‘friends’, they have little social interaction, and increased feelings of anxiety and loneliness.
Human beings were created by God to have a healthy relationship with Him and with other human beings.
It seems that, the more distant our relationship with God, the worse our relationship with each other.
The Bible encourages healthy relationships with close friends that we can trust (eg. Ecclesiastes 4:9-12), but also warns how fragile those relationships are when not nurtured.
Friendship multiplies joy, and helps to divide sorrow when we share.
Jesus came to begin the work of restoring relationships - first with God, then with each other.
Let Jesus heal your relationship with God, so you can enjoy the healthy human relationships you have been given, as a result.
~ Contributed by Bruce Driver from the Uniting Church on behalf of the Combined Churches of Deniliquin.
7°C