Ladies ~ 16.) Building, improving, and maintaining relationships and effective communication. There is a huge impact and influence that our companions, friends, peers, and guides have upon us. We need to be aware of who we need to be in order to make good and lasting relationships - but we also need to be aware of who our friends are and the influence that they have upon US. Relationships have a strong effect on people’s character, reputation, behavior, personality, ideals, standards, and belief system. It is true, for the most part, that “birds of a feather flock together,” “like begets like,” and “water seeks its own level.” We all naturally tend to gravitate to people that we share the same values and interests with because it makes for interactions that are comfortable and convenient for us. Certainly there are wise and foolish choices, as well as blessings or consequences involved in the companions that we spend time with. “Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise but the companion of fools will suffer harm.” Proverbs 13:20 This principle here is why God wants us to live a godly life, learn the Word of God, and be wise so that we can disciple, teach, and set an example for other believers to follow. Jesus did this with his twelve disciples; He spent time with them so that they could learn from His teaching and example how to live the Christian life. We are to do the same with others now. It is prudent for us to choose wise, godly, and established believers for our best and closest friends because who we spend time with is who influences us the most. Paul instructed his protégé, Timothy, “You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus, and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also” (2Tim. 2:1-2). It is God’s plan that we, like Timothy, first be strengthened by Jesus, grow in faith, learn the Word, then take the things that we have learned from godly believers and the diligent study of the scriptures and pass them on to other Christians who will, in turn, grow to be wise in the Word themselves and therefore able to disciple others just as they had been by us. The key here is that we find some godly friends. When the Queen of Sheba finally got to spend some time with King Solomon she said, “Happy are your men! Happy are your servants, who continually stand before you and hear your wisdom!” (1Ki. 10:8). There are periods of times in each one of our lives when we tend to be more vulnerable and need to be extra sure that we have wise and biblical guides to seek continual counsel and advice from. When you are a baby Christian you do not know the Word of God well yet and … If you have come to Jesus from a previous false religion If you are unequally yoked in marriage to an unbeliever If you are young and naturally inexperienced with life If you are a single person or a widow with no one to guide you biblically in your home If you are facing heavy trials If you lack wisdom …. it is extra important for you to seek godly friends to hang with, to be discipled by, and do a bible study with, and learn how to live a wise life yourself. We are not to be Islands in life. If we ostracize ourselves from other wise and godly people we will deceive ourselves into doing what is right in our own eyes, which leads to a delusional life. Yet, if we only seek peers to shop or play with that do not have a good spiritual impact in our lives and we have none in theirs - this is not what God desires for us. He wants us to have good relationships that help us on our spiritual walk and we on theirs. When we walk with people that are trying hard to yield their hearts to the Holy Spirit’s leading while they strive to manage their lives biblically, we get the benefit of watching God work in and through their lives. We get to see how they handle their children, their homes, their enemies, their priorities, and their jobs. We get to witness their trials and how they get through them as well as see them fail and get things right again. We can witness first hand their faith and wisdom in action. We learn what makes them “tick” as we get a first-hand taste of how real biblical Christians think and strive to live. We also benefit in having someone godly to talk with about our own lives, our trials, our studies, our decisions, our questions, our failures, and our victories as well as having the benefit of having a counselor who knows us well and can help steer us God ward. Christians that are serious about their relationship with Jesus offer biblical guidance through their everyday testimony and example just as much as through their words or teaching. “I am a companion of all who fear you, of those who keep your precepts” (Ps. 119:63). We will see more on this same subject next time - I’m trying to shorten these up a bit. Homework - 1.) Evaluate honestly the type of influence that you are on your friends and family. 2.) Evaluate honestly the type of influence that your friends are upon you. 3.) Go to the Lord in serious prayer about those evaluations and commit to making God honoring changes.
Posted on: Fri, 03 Oct 2014 09:21:18 +0000
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