“I am the LORD; that is my name! I will not yield my glory to another…” (Isaiah 42:8).

I’ve been writing about your soul’s appetite. Fill it with the wrong thing and be eternally corroded; fill it with the right thing and be eternally contented.

We’re spending a few days on “wrong things,” contrasted with right things.

Yesterday I talked about putting too much of an emphasis on feel-good pleasures, experiences and escapes.

Today’s focus is relationships.

Don’t get me wrong, relationships can be very good. But there are times when some people place too much value and weight on a certain relationship—whether that be a spouse, a girlfriend or boyfriend, a child, a best friend, or whomever.

In these cases, these individuals can start to play the role of Saviour in our lives. That’s not a weight they can bear, and it isn’t a role they were intended to play.

A retired pastor recounted an experience he had as a child. One night when his mother was tucking him in, he asked if she loved him more than anyone else. To his surprise, she answered, ‘No.’ Um, pardon? ‘I love God first, then your daddy, then you kids the same.’

It taught him a valuable and life-long lesson. If we give certain people the number one position in our lives—a position that should only be occupied by Jesus—our priorities and perspective will always be disproportionate to what and who matters most.

People are wonderful. I hope you cherish those God has graciously put in your life. But they’re not Jesus.

When you love God and love others (in that order), you are doing them a favour. Not only are you taking pressure off of them—a pressure they were never intended to carry—but they will get the blessed experience of sharing a life with someone who never loses sight of what and who matters most.

---

–Bible quotes are from the NIV.