All relationships take work and all too often we’re prone to give up too quickly. We give up when faced with normal challenges and hardships instead of staying committed and fighting through to our better. But sometimes the opposite is true as well and we hold on for too long when it’s time to let go.
Of course, some relationships are seasonal by their very nature. Perhaps many of our jobs and coworkers, casual friends and small group members are relationships we enjoy just for a particular season. And we naturally let go once that season has passed.
There’s no ill will here. But we don’t expect a lifetime commitment from our seasonal relationships. And we only invite much frustration when we demand otherwise.
What’s harder to accept is when it is time to let go of a relationship we had intended to be or wish would’ve been a lifetime relationship.
This happens, for example, when we realize we’re not heading in the same direction – when who they’re becoming and who God has called us to be is not just different, but incompatible, like light and darkness.
Perhaps things were good at one point and we still love them deeply. But it’s time to let go whenever we’re being held back from becoming all God has called us to be.
And this is true with the sinful relationships we might desire as well. Regardless of how enticing, good, and right the relationship might seem – we must drop anything that’s not in keeping with God’s best for us.
Admittedly, letting go is not easy. We want what we want and we hold on hoping that maybe this time we can have our cake and eat it too.
But we must regularly step back and evaluate our relationships from God’s perspective and not our own immediate desires, however noble they might be.
This allows us to fight the good fight and not give up too quickly. And also to courageously let go in faith when it’s time to move on.
There’s a time to hold on and a time to let go. Pray for the wisdom and clarity to know what time this is in your life and relationships.
Photo by Andrei Panfiloiu on Unsplash
