Friendship...is it important?

Do you agree with me that building good friendship is important?
Friendship with your husband, wife, children, parents, friends, teachers
and with God....is it important?

Why is it important?
It's because good friendship affects our own happiness...
friendship with others, friendship with God.

How to build this friendship?
Building friendship is like buiding a house.
A house needs a strong foundation. The same with friendship.
This foundation needs the help of God.
It requires of us to develop a good, strong character,
with honesty, faithfulness and ability to persevere.
That is, it takes a lot of sacrifices,
for what you sow is what you reap.

Remember Jesus said in Matthew 7: 34-27: -
24 - Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I'll liken him to
a wise man who built his house on the rock:
25 - and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house;
and the house did not fall, for it was founded on the rock.
26 - But everyone who hears these sayings of mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand:
27 - and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall."

Why is honesty important?
With falsehood and dishonesty, we cannot develop friendship.

Why is faithfulness important?
Unfaithfulness is the cause of breakdown of many friendships.

Perseverance is needed to make honesty and faithfulness work.
We need to keep going, because obstacles will surely come.

On our own, we're weak.
So we need the strength that comes from a close friendship with God.
Only God can provide that foundation.
We can overcome, because God is with us.
When we cry out our sins to God, we'll find peace & confidence within us.
We can have joy in spite of the circumstances.

Without true commitment, friendships cannot last;
marriages cannot be strong.
We're to accept each person as he or she is,
to build each other up,
to speak words that build up.
We are to be as Jesus is to us.

Jesus is committed to our every need....every hurt, every hunger.
He's faithful to see us through.
He's committed to develop the best in us.
He became poor that we might be rich.
He died that we might live.

Getting along with someone involves not only doing things to strengthen,
but also avoiding things that hurt.
Set a guard over my mouth. O Lord; keep watch over the door of my lips. (Psalm 141:3)
How many marriages and friendships have been destroyed
because of criticism that get out of control?
because of gossip or a word spoken thoughtlessly or in anger?
A harsh word can't be taken back;
no apology can fully repair its damage.

"The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire,and is itself set on fire by hell." (James 3:6)
These indeed are strong words, but they're true.

Like Jesus before Pilate, sometimes it's best to keep silent or talk less,
especially when our words are filled with anger; they can only make things worse.

"Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths,but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen" (Ephesians 4:29)

Remember that no relationship is completely smooth.
The closer the relationship, the deeper is the hurt.
Unforgiven hurts are the greatest source of destruction to a relationship.
If a hurt is allowed to grow, it deepens and becomes a barrier to good relationship.
Even if a person is fully justified in feeling hurt, nothing but harm can result
if that hurt remains unforgiven.

Any hurt, no matter how small it might seem, needs forgiveness.
If we refuse to forgive, that relationship will break down.
When someone hurts us, the instinct is to strike back....
but when we do, we not only destroy any possibility of reconciliation,
but also we allow anger and hate to control us.
We become a captive to the past, poisoned by bitterness all those years,
bitterness or anger becoming part of our identity,
making it difficult to get rid of them.
We can't change the past;
we can only seek God's forgiveness for what we did wrong.
But when God has forgiven us, shouldn't we also forgive others?
Don't let the past hold you captive any longer;
it's time to lay your bitterness & resentment at the foot of the Cross.
Jesus said,"If the Son sets you free, you'll be free indeed" (John 8:36)

We must always be ready to forgive, yet never demanding forgiveness for ourselves.
Forgiveness is the way to respond to the imperfections of others.
The heart attitude to deal with the failures of others is important.
Getting things roughly right comes before
getting things exactly right...we need to learn patience.
We need to forgive, correct, not demand and move on.
This is the right attitude.
We all fall short; none is perfect.
Sometimes we made mistakes that could have been avoided.
We have to forgive others, and also ourselves, and move on.

The key to love, forgiveness and patience is God's grace to you.
Grace is the currency of all true relationships.
Grace enable us to accept others as they are.
It's through intimacy with God that grace abounds.
God's grace abounds in that
while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

How can you love someone who had mistreated you?
Try to see your enemy as God does.
Christ also died for the person, who is also hurting.
People who strike out at others are like wounded animals...
they know they're in pain, but they resist attempts to relieve that pain.
By resisting against those who wish to help them,
they bring more pain upon themselves.
The reason is pride, which gets in the way.
True love submits and is willing to sacrifice for another's sake.

Colossians 3:13
"Be gentle and ready to forgive; never hold grudges.
Remember the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others."

Let this command to forgive ring loud in our hearts,
and let the healing power of forgiveness flow freely in our lives.