True Friendship … Looking at Friendship from the Book of Proverbs

     Let us take a look at friendship from the book of Proverbs. There are true friends and there are friends that will disappear as soon as the gifts or the money is gone (Proverbs 19:4). Still as certain as there will be shallow friendships which fade at the slightest provocation, there will also be deep abiding relationships that will be of more importance than those of one’s personal family (18: 24).  In fact a person is advised to go their friends that are near instead of seeking their brother who is far away (27:10).

    

      Above the functioning of a good neighbor, a person must always be careful to avoid unwise transactions and foolish fellowships with deceitful and angry men (16:29).  It is clearly evident that the writers of Proverbs realized the treachery of wicked people who will disguise themselves as friends to accomplish their desires. These evil people are really enemies and should never be chosen as friends. In addition to being aware of deceit, there is also the warning to not become controlled by acquaintances by being indebted to them in matters of money. 

     

      There are ways of determining the character of a friendship such as the intensity or deepness of the relationship but sometimes only time and trouble will only be able to pierce the veil of emotion and perspective. This fact is shown in the warning to watch for the flattery of the deceitful (29:5). At certain times a person can fall for the deceitful lies of others who could turn out to be enemies and only flatter for their own reasons.

     

       Instead of being even enticed by their claims, a person should seek true friends and the friends of their father (27:10). These friends have proven the test of time and difficulties and have remained faithful. Thus one should be careful with any new friendship until the true character of a new friend can be determined. All of us soon learn in our life experience, that we cannot believe all we hear, but we must discern the truth. The same principle is true in friendships, as it is only the foolish person who falls for the flattery and kisses of an enemy disguised as a friend (27:6).  There might be times of difficulty, when it might be tempting to listen to the lies of enemies but we should realize that truth is found in the honestly of true friendship. The consequences of following a true friend’s advice will be good even though at the time it might seem awkward and bitter to swallow. If a friend is honest, the advice is for your good and only meant to help you along the way.

      The constancy of a true friend is solid like a rock and gives us a place to stand in good and bad times. The test of time is present in the dynamic of constancy as a the test of dedication of a friendship (17:17).  Those that depart at the first hint of danger are not close, dependable or true friends but fair-weather friends who only seek your friendship because of the benefit it offers to them. These kinds of acquaintances are in direct contrast to friends that are closer then brothers and true, loyal and the lifelong friends of our families.  

  

       A good friendship is a priceless treasure that is impossible to buy or obtain in any way except by finding and keeping the true friendships one finds throughout their life. A good friendship is compared with perfume and oil, which in Biblical times was as priceless a commodity as gold or silver (27:9). The truth about true friendships is this … a true, loyal and lasting friendship is worth more than many boxes of gold, silver or rare and costly perfume.  

 Thank you, Heavenly Father for giving us the blessing of friendships and everything those friendships mean to us.

              

Why is there suffering?

“I love you, Lord God, and you make me strong.  You are my mighty rock, my fortress, my protector, the rock where I am safe, my shield, my powerful weapon, and my place of shelter” (Psalm 18:1-2, CEV).

  Why is there suffering?  Why is this happening to me?  Sometimes we cannot answer these questions in our own understanding. It is very hard to even begin to understand why sicknesses, circumstance, illnesses and aging issues come into our lives and why we have to endure the suffering they bring to us.  If we could chose, we would not want  to have to deal with any of them or the suffering that comes from them.  Pain, suffering and death are just part of life in our fallen world. 

      There is no real answer to the suffering in the world or in our life experience. It is a basic fact; there simply will be suffering in our living out our days on this earth.  When suffering comes ... some are quick to blame God, some question God and some walk away from God as if to believe they will find the answer to suffering in their own understanding.  

     Suffering simply is part of our fallen world but in a greater way so is the love of God, His grace sufficient in all things and His precious gift of salvation. We are not promised a life with no suffering but we are promised that God is a mighty rock in the midst of all suffering.  We are promised that He is a Father that knows everything about us and knows our prayers before we ask them. We are promised a great and unfathomable love and we are promised His grace will carry us through this life and into an eternal life where there will be no tears and pain.  Through God’s loving grace, we not only know that He sees our pain and hears our cries but He will also send Jesus the One that knows pain and sorrow (Hebrew 4:15) to be with us through His Holy Spirit (John 14:6). So call upon the Lord to come and be with you in your suffering. Lean upon Him even as your heart breaks during times of suffering for the “Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those that are crushed in Spirit” (Psalms 34:18, ESV). 

Dear Father in Heaven, we come to you broken, by our suffering and pain. We know that you see us in our pain and we know that you hear us as your children. We come seeking your healing touch, your comfort and strength and the presence of our Savior, Jesus Christ to watch over us.  Help us in our needs, watch over us with your tender love and hold us as place of shelter in this time of trouble.  We thank you for being our Father, loving us and saving us.  In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Suggested Reading … Psalm 34

In the bleak midwinter ...

The days of our lives …

“Teach us to number our days,  that we may gain a heart of wisdom.” (Psalm 90:12, NIV)

  When we are young and full of dreams, pomp, vitality and there are seemingly endless days before us, we hardly take time to value what is around us. The days and times are full of everything life can offer and it seems rather handy for us to reach out and pluck what we need or want off the trees along our pathways.

     Usually as the seasons pass by, we somehow connect up with another person and become a family. Our next series of years are taken up with devotion to spouse and children and our days are full of efforts to provide, maintain, teach, enjoy and plan a bit for the future.  Time is not really spent in the thought of our days being fleeting as we are just too busy with the living.

      As the years pass and middle age broadsides us with the reality that a majority of our days on this earth have been used up with many unreasonable and unfinished intentions, wishes and dreams yet to be realized.  Regrets may even flow freely into our thoughts and we long to somehow take back what we have let slip by.  Finally we end our days on this earth by remembering our years on this earth and somehow finding joy in all the days have gone by.

      The reality of our days on this earth is that they are numbered and there is no one that knows the quota of days they will have.  During our living out our days on this earth … we will lose days to our foolishness, we will work countless days and take off a lesser amount of days than we needed to, we will plan for days that will never come and be surprised at the gift of days we never expected, we will gain days by the sheer generosity and the love of others and lose other days to the meanness of people who hate and hurt, we will try to honor our share of days and fail in many ways, we will give up many of days in service to others and yet strangely fin those days multiplied into new days of joy.  There will be cloudless days and sunny days, days of laughter and days of tears, days of pain and days of joy and days of every mixture of emotion in between.

     All our days are a gift of grace from the One that knows all of our days and gives all days out of His amazing grace.  If we see our days as His gift to us and realize that when we live our days in His ways and with Him alongside to guide us, we will find our days filled with His everlasting wisdom.

   Heavenly Father … we thank you for all of our days, given as a gift to us by your grace and blessing. Come Lord Jesus, with your Holy Spirit and guide us to fill them up with your joy and live them out  with your grace and wisdom. Amen.   

Suggested Reading … Psalm 90

His gaze is upon you ...

Sometimes it is hard to see the beauty when we are in the season of cold and ice, but it is right here in the heart of it ... just as it hard at moments to sense God's love and attention in the middle of pain and difficulties but His loving eyes and gracious care have never left us.

Something far better …

“Then Peter said, "Silver or gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk" (Acts 3:6, NIV).

  There is something far better than having silver of gold in your possession and something far better than silver or gold, that you can give away.  A strange thing about silver and gold … there are some things that silver and gold cannot buy.  Silver and gold cannot buy happiness, joy, fulfillment, freedom or peace. They can be lost or stolen.  Silver and gold can also become a terrible negative thing if the seemingly firm and solid security they promise, turns into an obsession. Possessing silver and gold can consume you. Greed and schemes of possessing more and more silver and gold can become your life.  In addition, values can change and the worry of protecting your treasure is a constant anxiety and concern.

      What is better that gold or silver? It is not a thing, a possession or even a treasure; it is a Savior.  A Savior … who is the Way, the Truth and the Life.  He is a treasure that cannot be lost.  He will never lose His supreme and inestimable value.  No one can steal Him away from you.  Your relationship with Him will go on into eternity.  He is true and real and the promises He speaks are true. There is nothing false in the quality, shine or attractiveness of Him.  You do not have to worry about diminishing values or having less of Him. In fact, as you give Him away, you will find more of Him and the value of Him in your life will grow and grow.  As you can freely and generously give Him and His power to others, you will see amazing things in their lives as well. Even more amazing is this powerful reality; Jesus Christ can do things that no amount of silver or gold will ever be able to do.

     The Living Christ in you, can heal, restore, refresh, empower and help you in every way and in every day as you live out your life.  Jesus Christ can bring a peace that is found nowhere else in the world and cover you with His peace that passes all understanding as it sustains and delivers when gold and silver are simply worthless.  The Apostles Peter and John could not give the Lame Man any silver and gold but what they could give was something far better. They could give him, the Living Christ, as Healer and Savior.  The Living Christ can be your Healer and Savior, simply by calling on His Name.  If Jesus Christ is your Savior and Lord, you have something far better than all the silver and gold in the world and you have something far better to give to the world around you.

"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. "But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal …” (Matthew 6:19-20, NIV).

Suggested Reading … Acts 3

Truly seeing those around you ...

Grace amazes again and again as there is just something about grace …

  There is something about God’s grace which is lavished upon us, through a dying Savior and risen Lord that makes it so consuming as to stagger us into realizing ourselves as sinful people while liberating and sustaining us now until it  carries us into eternity; victorious over all darkness and death.  We cannot fully comprehend its capacities nor can we fully expound the dimensions of its reach in bringing us into a fulfilling and loving fellowship with our Creator. When we truly find and realize this saving and life giving grace … we become simply humbled and grateful yet graciously empowered as we are amazed at the gift so freely given to save us.

      This gift of grace, of which we are all so undeserving of; is given unto the world by a loving God who shows His great love in sending sent His Son to give this grace to all that would receive it.  An amazing grace in that even though we are wretched sinners, He would die for us. Amazing, just amazing!

     That God empowers us with His Holy Spirit as the presence of the Living Christ is amazing grace and this same Jesus Christ is coming back to carry us to dwell with Him forever is amazing grace.Amazing, just amazing!

     God’s grace is amazing because it is always true, forever timeless, flowing through our lives and countless generations before us and after us with an ever fresh sweetness in its life giving song.

     Everything on this earth is fleeting and fading but grace is always relevant, compelling and overwhelming as it releases the ancient Living Word and endless promises for salvation and abundance for all who believe.

     Grace is amazing in its power because it somehow takes account of the past; crushing hurt, debt and despair while sustaining us as it heals us and pushes us to live differently.  Grace carries us from our youth, abiding even unto the end of our years on earth until it finally takes us into the very dwelling place of the Author and Giver of all life and love.

     Grace always brings new life to individuals, friendships and families, lifting us up and holding us in fellowship and relationship while teaching, nurturing and carrying us in the Peace of Christ which passes understanding.

     Grace breaks down the deepest of offenses with the hope of forgiveness by recounting in shining and sober honesty, the countless offenses that have been forgiven in your own life by your loving and forgiving Savior.

     Grace enables us to listen truer, hear better, reach further, trust deeper, react slower, speak softer, cry longer, care more and love unconditionally with the love given to us by the mercy and grace of our Heavenly Father.

     Grace guides us as we listen and trust, starting from the simple beginnings of faith when we first believe through time holding us, while gently molding our hearts over and over again throughout all the days of our lives by the presence of His Spirit.

    Grace is amazing as rises quickly to all needs, lifts us beyond all our inadequacies, sufficient to cover every and all weaknesses in the midst of all pain, difficulty and struggle; letting us be unto others as our Savior is to us. 

    God’s grace is amazing as it amazes again and again; resounding with unspeakable joy in each and every day while securing our forever home for eternity.  Amazing, that it comes to all of us and amazing in all it does. Amazing … God’s grace to us, is just amazing.  

Heavenly Father, we thank you for your grace lavished upon us in your love. Amazing, unfathomable, living, liberating and sustaining in its giving life to us. May we step into your grace in all ways and may it change us over and over again that we may reflect the image of your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. In His Blessed Name, Amen.

“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,  not a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9, ESV).

Suggested Reading … Ephesians 2

Amazing Grace

  What is so amazing about grace? Grace grants to us in inestimable amounts complete sufficiency for our sin while securing our relationship with the Living Holy God through the sacrifice and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. Grace connects the impossible extremes of both failure and hope at the same time with the great love of God freely gifted to us.  Grace is amazingly encompassing in its reach into our lives and wonderfully explosive in its enabling of every life it truly touches. 

     May the words of the great hymn flow through your mind and your heart this day and may grace be upon you and in you. May the grace of God through you, touch those around you.

Amazing grace! (How sweet the sound)

That sav’d a wretch like me!

I once was lost, but now am found,

Was blind, but now I see.

’Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,

And grace my fears reliev’d;

How precious did that grace appear,

The hour I first believ’d!

Thro’ many dangers, toils and snares,

I have already come;

’Tis grace has brought me safe thus far,

And grace will lead me home.

The Lord has promis’d good to me,

His word my hope secures;

He will my shield and portion be,

As long as life endures.

Yes, when this flesh and heart shall fail,

And mortal life shall cease;

I shall possess, within the veil,

A life of joy and peace.

The earth shall soon dissolve like snow,

The sun forbear to shine;

But God, who call’d me here below,

Will be forever mine.

John Newton (1779)