3.170 Focus on the Good We Can Give

In Matthew 5, Jesus calls us the salt of the earth and the light of the world, reminding us that our lives are meant to preserve, illuminate, and point others to Him. This season on Savory Salt, we'll walk through the Old Testament, one verse and one thought each day. Perhaps these moments will add greater savor and brighter light to our lives as we seek to truly live as Savory Salt.

Hello, my friends. It's a new day with new opportunities. Choose ye this day whom you will serve.

What is it that you look for when entering into a relationship? Kind of a deep question to get started on today's episode, as we are reading this week 1 Samuel 17, 18, 24 to 26, and 2 Samuel chapters 5 through 7. Basically, this week we're going to dive, yes, David and Goliath, on the wrestle between David and Saul.

What happens when we have good relationships versus difficult and struggled relationships? I think that's where my mind was as I was diving into our reading for today, which comes from 1 Samuel chapter 24, verse 17. This is in the middle of a conversation between Saul and David.

David has just been able to cut a piece of Saul's coat off as he was in caves and showed that he could have killed Saul, but he didn't do it. And he explains to him that he was not going to kill the Lord's anointed, and so forth, back and forth. And then we get this statement from Saul here in verse 17: "And he said to David, 'Thou art more righteous than I: for thou hast rewarded me good, whereas I have rewarded thee evil.'" Now, I don't want to get into the idea on the front end of this verse about trying to do things to be more righteous than others.

I don't think that was David's intent, and I think it certainly shows Saul's point of view of how he sees David developing into this new figure that's going to be king. Instead, what I want to focus on here is the idea that he realizes that David has rewarded him good and he has rewarded David evil. Kind of an interesting phrase there.

But look, when it comes to relationship development, how many times do we go into relationships wondering what we're going to get out of the relationship? Or how many times do we go into relationships hoping that that relationship, for some reason, is going to make our lives better? That could be business relationships where we hope, you know, "Oh, I hope I can meet this person so that I can get a sale over here." And Saul has rewarded David evil.

In effect, I basically kind of self-translated, I guess, the idea here that David went into the relationship with a giving attitude. He was looking to see what good he could bring to the relationship. Feeds in a little bit to our conversation we had yesterday, doesn't it?

I think when we go into relationships, if we go into it with the idea of focusing on what good we can bring to the relationship, what we could give to the relationship, it gives the opportunity for that relationship to flourish. Now, the cynic would probably say, "Allen, hold on just a second. If I only focus on bringing good to the relationship, then the other person will be able to do the same." What if we just leaned into the idea that as we continue to bring good to relationships, we're going to eventually connect with people who also have a desire to bring good to their relationships as well.

That's truly where successful marriages, successful friendships, increased success inside of family relationships can really ultimately flourish. Thank you for watching. We hope you are, too.