Remember building houses out of cardboard when you were a kid? I heard about some kids who built a playhouse and it didn’t take long before they realized they needed a few rules to keep order in the house.
The kids came up with three basic rules:
- Nobody act big.
- Nobody act small.
- Everybody act medium.
There’s something very special about being surrounded with great friends! Friendship fills you up. It’s that ingredient that brings purpose and joy to so many things. Think about the things in life you really enjoy. Whether you enjoy fishing, boating, riding horses, ATV’s or almost anything, it’s obvious that it’s more fun to do with someone else.
When God created the heavens and the earth He said “it was good” but He said “It was not good” than a man be alone. From the very beginning God wanted us to know that we were made to be in relationship with others.
As important as friends are… you will soon learn that some of the most difficult experiences you will ever face in life will be connected to struggles in relationships. Great friends are important and I truly believe every person needs to have at least one best friend that you can be totally honest and transparent with.
Proverbs 18:24 says, “A man that hath friends must shew himself friendly: and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother.”
If you are currently facing challenges in your friendships, remember that God wants you to remember that you can’t control the actions and attitudes of others, but you can control yours. So make a commitment to be the best friend a person could ever have.
How do you honor God in your friendships?
- Be a faithful friend, not up and down or hot and cold.
- Be an honest friend… always speak the truth in love.
- Be a friend who is a giver not a getter. Ask how you can invest in your friend and help them become a better Christian, a better son or daughter, a better student, better in every way.
- Be attentive. Reach out, respond and invest the time into a friendship that matters.
God can use you in mighty ways in the life of others. But He uses those who are humble, not proud. He uses those who realize that it’s not about acting small or big… it’s about acting medium.
Read I Corinthians 13 and notice all the elements that define a caring friend.
I’d love to hear from you about how God is at work in your life. You can email me, post a comment or even leave a voicemail at 423-381-0018.
Ken Turner
Learn more at https://kenturnerministries.org/walking-with-god/
Email me at kenturner@highimpactteens.org
