True Friendship

“Iron sharpens iron, and one person sharpens another.”
Proverbs 27:17 CSB

Do you have a person in your life who is close enough to you to speak truth into your life? Do you have anyone who knows you well enough that they can tell just by your demeanor that something is off in your life? Or have you spent your life putting up barriers to keep people at arm’s reach? Have you figured out how to let people in just so far and no further? It seems that we are living in a time when people are complaining about not having any close friends, and at the same time they are living their lives through social media and hiding in their homes. People are allowing themselves to become more isolated and alone. Not good! Remember in Genesis when God created man, he created him for relationship. If you remember God’s statement, “It is not good for man to be alone,” so God created from man a woman. Then in the next few verses we see man, woman, and God in relationship with one another until mankind sinned and broke the relationship. Humans were created with a need to be in relationship with each other. Why? First, we were created in the image of God. God’s very character is in relationship (Father, Son, Holy Spirit); read John 17 sometime and notice the relationship in the Godhead. Second, at creation “It was not good for man to be alone.” That was before sin. After sin the need became even greater. When we are left on our own we often end up in trouble. The verse we read as we started this blog reminds us that we need someone else who is able to to help file off our rough edges, to call us out when we are heading in a wrong direction, and to encourage us when we are struggling with discouragement. Who do you have in your life that you have given permission to call you out and lift you up? If not, why not ask God to help you find a person you could respect and trust enough to open up to?

-Pastor Tim