Friends in WHAT places...?

Do your friends tell you things that are hard to hear?

I told you that God uses this blog to work through issues with me…I can only hope that some of the lessons I learn the harder way can ease your walk with him. The last few weeks, God has been opening my eyes to exactly how narrow the gate is…and exactly how many people sitting next to me at church may actually be at risk for losing eternity with Him. It’s a grim picture when you realize what you’re called to, and how many people don’t know what it is. We think we're checking the boxes:

ü Sunday Church Service

ü  Serving in church

ü Small Group participation

ü  Bible Studies (that we never actually apply)

The Bible doesn’t lie. It doesn’t compromise. There are no loopholes. And it’s full of commands we’re supposed to be walking in our daily lives that seem to disappear outside the few hours we block off for God during the week.

•  Love one another like Christ loved the Church. (John 15:12) Do you know what that means?! Christ died for you, to start.

• Love your enemies. (Matthew 5:44) Love them. Pray for them. Do for them. All of it.

• Do not sin. (Romans 6:12) You realize that’s NO sin. Of any kind. Ever.

• Forgive. (Mark 11:25-26) Not on the surface, not in words. Not “forgive but don’t forget.” Forgive fully, completely, over and over and over again.

• Abide in Jesus. (John 15:4) Accept or act in accordance with a rule, decision or recommendation. All the time.

• Show the world Christ through you. (Matthew 15:14-16) Walk like Him, talk like Him, act like Him…

• Give generously. (Matthew 5:40-42) More than is expected, with joy in your heart.

• Do not store up treasure on earth. (Matthew 6:19-21) Money, Success, Fame, Cars, Homes, Vacations, Clothes…

I could keep going, but you get it. Those are the big ones, that everyone knows intellectually but often fall short of practically. And it’s a small fraction of the list.

In the last year, I’ve been called into a leadership position with adults. Prior to that, it was the sweet baby 2nd graders, and while that comes with its own challenges they are nothing compared to leading adults in God’s truth. You see, as adults the conditioning of the world is deep. We’ve learned through our relationships and careers to compromise. We’ve learned to see things from multiple perspectives and rationalize. We’ve become adept at succeeding by honing these skills…and then we meet Christ. His world operates in direct contradiction to the one we’ve been living in, but we carry these same skills into it and try to apply them to be successful. And then we wonder why spiritually we’re floundering around when professionally we’re highly skilled…and most often rather than seek the truth and adjust – we retreat back into the world.

I asked you if your friends tell you things you don’t want to hear, because I’m learning that if I have friends who always tell me things that make me feel good – it’s probably a friendship I need to be cautious of. Don’t get me wrong, I love those friends but I have to filter what I hear through the fact that God will use those around me to push me closer to Him and his Kingdom purpose…if what I’m hearing causes any separation – I need to disregard it. And who I surround myself with, and what lens I filter that time through, will drastically change the way I walk forward. Those who love me the way God loves me are going to tell me hard things sometimes. It’s always couched in love, it’s never judgmental…but it often stings. My response should be taking that directly to Him, so that he can refine my character and make me more like Jesus, and so I can adjust my walk to be more like His.

Leaders, which we all are in the body regardless of title, are called to preach the word…even to their friends….even when it’s hard.

Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and exhort with great patience and instruction. For the time will come when they will not tolerate sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance with their own desires, and they will turn their ears away from the truth and will turn aside to myths.  – 2 Timothy 4:2-4

And that means the people that love me most are sometimes going to tell me things I don’t want to hear. I can’t hide from it. I can’t retreat to my Christian friends who tell me only nice and good things. I have to take it. I have to process it and understand it. I have to filter it through the Word. And once I validate it, I have to hand it to him in repentance and ask Him to help me change.

Sometimes I tell my friends the hard things. Not because I want to, or particularly love that part of the job – but because I love them immensely. I want them to be standing next to me in Heaven. The more I learn about what that means, the harder I know it is to do, and the more I establish my circle with people who know God and his Word, who can correct me when I’m walking off the path even when it’s hard to hear. THOSE are the people who have accepted God’s calling to lead. THOSE are the people who will make me a great leader.