One year when I was really young, I decided to make my parents a Christmas gift. I constructed it from a two-foot piece of 2 x 10 lumber I found lying around my dad’s workshop.

I painted it, green I think, and hammered a bunch of nails in it. I then took red yarn and wrapped a pattern around the nails so that it said, “We Love You Mom & Dad.”

You know, this was and is about the most hideous thing I have ever seen; yet it is still hanging on my parents’ back porch today. It would break my mother’s heart if anything ever happened to that piece of wood.

I once heard a pastor say that the only value to any creation is the value someone holds for its creator.

And that’s certainly true for my Christmas gift that year.

My mom would have never bought something like I built her for a decoration; it’s just too ugly. It is only because she loves and values me that the present has any worth at all.

The same is true for God and His creation.

If we truly love God and find value in Him, then we would show it in our attitude towards His creation – specifically other people.

Take a look at 1 John 3:10:

“ This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God; nor is anyone who does not love his brother.”
(NIV).

God looks at our relationships with each other because it reflects how we feel about Him. Six of the Ten Commandments deal with our relationships with other people, and the other four talk about our relationship with God. Jesus put great emphasis on how we treat each other. He said the second greatest commandment of all is that we love our neighbors like ourselves - the first being to love God with all your heart, soul and mind.

When I hear of husbands yelling hurtful words at their wives, or people manipulating their friends, or families stabbing each other in the back, I have to wonder if they love or value God. If they did, would it not show in all other relationships?

How are your relationships with other people? How is your relationship with your heavenly Father?