Friendship (1)
Sunday 7th October 2018
'A man of too many friends comes to ruin.' Proverbs 18:24 NAS
Friendships are vital in our lives. We're not supposed to do life on our own. With friends we have a support network and people to share the good and bad of our lives with. Being able to get along with others and make good friends is a necessary skill to have. And friendships require time, energy, sacrifice and investment.
But we need to be wise when working out which friendships to invest in. We shouldn't be sharing the things we're going through, or the big parts of our lives, with everyone. Solomon warns, 'A man of too many friends comes to ruin' (Proverbs 18:24 NAS). And not every friend will prove to be one, as Jeremiah warned King Zedekiah: 'They misled you and overcame you - those trusted friends of yours. Your feet are sunk in the mud; your friends have deserted you' (Jeremiah 38:22 NIV). The wrong friend may betray us, as Judas did to Jesus. Solomon said, 'The godly give good advice to their friends; the wicked lead them astray' (Proverbs 12:26 NLT). If the advice our friends is giving leads us away from God, maybe we should reconsider our level of investment in the friendship.
The Hebrew word for 'choose' is tur, and in the Old Testament it refers to a man like a surveyor who searches out land. So if we're wise, we'll explore and evaluate our friendships before we enter them.
So what now? Think of one of your closest friends and write down all the qualities about them that you appreciate. Then tell them!
Sunday 7th October 2018
'A man of too many friends comes to ruin.' Proverbs 18:24 NAS
Friendships are vital in our lives. We're not supposed to do life on our own. With friends we have a support network and people to share the good and bad of our lives with. Being able to get along with others and make good friends is a necessary skill to have. And friendships require time, energy, sacrifice and investment.
But we need to be wise when working out which friendships to invest in. We shouldn't be sharing the things we're going through, or the big parts of our lives, with everyone. Solomon warns, 'A man of too many friends comes to ruin' (Proverbs 18:24 NAS). And not every friend will prove to be one, as Jeremiah warned King Zedekiah: 'They misled you and overcame you - those trusted friends of yours. Your feet are sunk in the mud; your friends have deserted you' (Jeremiah 38:22 NIV). The wrong friend may betray us, as Judas did to Jesus. Solomon said, 'The godly give good advice to their friends; the wicked lead them astray' (Proverbs 12:26 NLT). If the advice our friends is giving leads us away from God, maybe we should reconsider our level of investment in the friendship.
The Hebrew word for 'choose' is tur, and in the Old Testament it refers to a man like a surveyor who searches out land. So if we're wise, we'll explore and evaluate our friendships before we enter them.
So what now? Think of one of your closest friends and write down all the qualities about them that you appreciate. Then tell them!
