So for the past month we’ve been delving into a variety of topics that I feel really matter in our Christian walks, and that often don’t get talked about enough on Sundays. Today I wanted to go over friendships.
You see, strong friendships really do matter in your life, oftentimes more than we realize. First off I think that your spouse should be your best friend. If you can’t share everything in your life with that person, then you really need to work on some of the other areas we’ve already discussed. That being said, I think that a few other strong friendships in your life are equally important.
As important as your spouse is, he or she can’t always relate to everything that you have going on in your life. I know that I’ll never know what it’s like to go through childbirth, menstrual cycles, husband problems, etc. (That last one alone would be enough to drive a person completely crazy!) So having someone you can talk to about those issues who has gone through the same kind of things really does matter. They can listen to what you have to say, and possibly even give advice or at least easily relate. Talking with others who go through the same things can make it easier to go through those problems, along with many others.
Another positive of friendships are having someone else to bounce ideas off of. Be they ideas on what to buy your kids or spouse for a birthday, to thoughts on a new ministry idea, those friends can give you another point of view that can really help to developing the ideas that you have. Sometimes they’ll even come up with problems that you never saw because they can fully look at things that you might not be able to, due to the rose colored glasses you are wearing.
Another advantage of positive friendships, at least for me, is that sometimes I need adult contact that isn’t my spouse. I love Traci dearly, but I need to hang out with other guys from time to time and do guy things. Traci will watch sports with me, but it’s different going with a group of guys to a game and hashing out the latest moves the team made. Or playing a sport together with other guys and being able to compete with and against them, etc. Those are outlets for me which I need ,and I'm sure many other guys, as well as women, need them.
My last point on friendship is that you need to have friends that keep you spiritually in check. You need to have an accountability partner who isn’t your spouse that will keep you spiritually strong. They will check in with you regularly and make sure you continue to progress in your spiritual walk. They will pray with you and for you regularly. Here is the kicker, you’ll do the same for them as well. This relationship will keep your friendship strong, but also keep the relationship you have with Jesus strong, allowing you to continually model that relationship in the world.
As you can see, friendships do matter. There are a lot of things that I wasn’t able to cover here because I don’t want you to fall asleep reading this. If you want to discuss this further please contact me any time.
Next Week: Money Matters
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