Stand Up For Your Friends

“I will not tolerate people who slander their neighbors. I will not endure conceit and pride.”

Psalms 101:5 NLT

It is so easy to just sit by and watch evil be done. We see people talking badly about another person, we see people treat people badly, but our western culture has now said "I don't want to get involved" or "its none of my business." We can make up so many excuses as to why we won't stand up for what is right. How many times has someone you know talked badly about a friend of yours and you just stood there and said nothing? I used to do it. And my reason, "well what if they start talking bad about me?" I finally realized that if they are talking bad about a friend of mine to me, they are most likely talking bad about me to someone else. And even if that is not true, just the fact that they are slandering a friend of yours is enough to stand up and say, "you know, that might be true, but let me tell you what is good about this person!" When I started doing that, the other person shut up! Now they may not always shut up. They may continue to talk bad about your friend, and if that is the case, then either change the subject or walk away. Its about time we start standing up for each other, especially our friends and neighbors. Scripture says we are to think the best of each other, so lets do it and stop tolerating people who berate another!

Take Away: whenever someone you know starts talking bad about someone, be the one who stops the slander and talk about whats good about the other person. 

Speaking into our Lives

“As iron sharpens iron, so a person sharpens his friend.”

Proverbs 27:17 NET

We all have friends, but most of us...and hopefully all of us...have that one special close friend that will not hold back anything if something is needed to be said. Over the course of my life I've had several people that have spoken in my life. These are much needed people as they help me grow in my relationship with God and with others. My wife and my best friend are two people that will speak to me whenever I am needing a "come to Jesus moment." They will not hold back, but they will speak what needs to be said. And when they do this, it is done in love, it is done in a way that the ultimate goal is for me to recognize an area in my life that needs correction. You see, God uses those people in our lives to speak to us. Usually when someone comes to us and points out an area in our lives that isn't right, our first response is to defend ourselves and to put up the walls of security because, "hey, we are perfect, there is nothing in my life that needs to be fixed." Unfortunately when we do this, we no longer are allowing others to help us and we stay in the same mess we are in. When we allow others to speak into our lives, and listen to what they say, we can then go to God and ask Him to help us with this problem. 

Take Away: when someone talks to us about an area in our life they see is a problem, be open to receive what they are saying, don't put up the wall of defenses, but go to God and ask Him to help you.

Friends

As iron sharpens iron, so a friend sharpens a friend. (Proverbs 27:17 NLT)

Most of us have heard this verse, but how many of us have actually allowed this to happen. What I mean is that when a friend confronts us, do we put up our defenses, or do we allow them to speak into our lives? Human nature will want to put up our defenses and say "you don't know what you are talking about" or "no, you are wrong!" Godly nature says, "I'm listening, keep talking." Judging by the previous verses in this chapter, I believe the author of this passage was talking about close friends and not aquaintances. I have a close friend who is definitely not afraid to confront me, and I need that in my life. He has seen things I have done or am doing that I was unaware of. It's kind of like I can't see the forest because of the trees. He, along with a few others, are really the only ones I allow to do this because they know me, they have spent time with me. Of course this goes both ways, they  allow me to speak into their lives as well, it is definitely a 2-way street. We need each other, we need close friends in our lives. If we don't have friends, we are tieing God's hands. You may be one that is a "loner" who says I don't need anyone as long as I got myself. Well, there is no place in scripture that says this, in fact there is plenty of scripture that says we need each other. God uses our friends to minister to us and vice versa! Allow God to cross your path with people whom He wants you to develop a relationship with.

Take Away: if you lack close friends in your life, ask God to start bringing people into your life. If you ask, He will do it!