Familiarity, the unexpected blinder (Part 1)

"Though familiarity may not breed contempt, it takes off the edge of admiration."

William Hazlitt Quotes

Day in and day out, we are constantly meeting people and developing new friendships. In some situations, we make friends that stick around for a lifetime and others just simply pass through. Each person fulfills a purpose in your life, whether good or bad.  In those friendships where we find purpose, are we treating our friends well? Do we take time to appreciate our family members or even spouses?

The issue of familiarity has been on my mind and it’s not just limited to friends but even family as well. It is sad that this issue plagues our society so much and has cause great family relationships, romantic relationships and friendships to fall apart. As I was thinking through this issue, I found that there are viable examples of the effects of familiarity which we could all learn from.

Let us start from the story of David, the man who God found to be pleasing in his sight. Before he took the position of King, life was not at all easy for him. Here he was, tucked away in the wilderness, looking after the sheep and fighting with wild animals. He was not well regarded by his family, when Samuel was looking for the chosen King in Jesse’s house, his own father had forgotten that David existed. Familiarity had made his family limit David’s capabilities in their minds and he almost missed the anointing God had for him. Now David goes to the battlefield and sees Goliath, the filthy philistine whom no one could stand against. David looks at him and see him as an ant who could easily be crushed so he boldly declares that he could take him down:

David asked the men who were standing near him, "What will be done for the man who strikes down this Philistine and frees Israel from this humiliation? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he defies the armies of the living God?"

1 Sam 17:26 (NET)

David spoke with unprecedented boldness yet his speech was met angry remarks from his brother and disbelief:

When David's oldest brother Eliab heard him speaking to the men, he became angry with David and said, "Why have you come down here? To whom did you entrust those few sheep in the desert? I am familiar with your pride and deceit! You have come down here to watch the battle!"

1 Sam 17:28 (NET)

His brother thought that by virtue of the fact that they were siblings, he knew what his brother was capable of but unfortunately we can see that was untrue. Familiarity makes you feel satisfied about what you know about the person so you refuse to dig deeper and see the bigger picture. The person you know today, will not always be the same. As human beings we are constantly evolving, and there is always an inner inspiration to strive forward. The people we get to know in life, God will use to help us progress in our lives in diverse ways. David was only needed to tend for the animals, his family could not see him beyond that.

That is how are society is becoming, we require people to fulfill certain needs but once we have that help and we are satisfied, we push them aside. Some people make it more obvious than others, to their close friends or family that they are not needed.

In order to receive the best out of people, we need to treat them with care and love, consistently making them feel appreciated. We live in a “selfie” generation, we only think about ourselves and no one else but more often than not, we need to step out of the box. Sometimes when God wants to be a blessing to someone, he uses people to achieve that. Let’s even look at the story of the woman and her son who Elijah helped. The woman was preparing to make her last meal and die of starvation alongside her son when Elijah arrived. God had directed him to go to the woman’s house. She made him aware of her present situation but Elijah gave her this assurance:

For this is what the Lord God of Israel says, 'The jar of flour will not be empty and the jug of oil will not run out until the day the Lord makes it rain on the surface of the ground.'"

1 Kin 17:14 (NET)

The woman made food for Elijah and her son, the food never run out as promised. The lady treated Elijah well, imagine if she had shunned him, she would have missed a great help especially when Elijah had prayed for her son’s healing. We don’t have to welcome or appreciate people in big ways but the little things that we do can release so much goodness into not just their lives but yours too….

At this point, I will leave you to mediate on this and I will be back tomorrow with the second part of this post. I do hope that you been blessed by this so far and it has brought some revelation on the next step to take in your relationships with people. Stay blessed!