5:78 – A hard truth from a trusted friend.

#faithbites #faithjourney hard

Intro

Tonight for family movie night, we watched the remake of Cheaper By The Dozen. It was modernized, cute, and really had a great message. Lots of fun. At the end, one of the characters said something along the lines of a hard truth can be the best thing someone does for you. Think about that for a minute. We want to support, cheer, and be there for our friends. But if we don’t speak truth into them, who will?

Questions

• Do you sugar coat the issue or do you speak truth into your friends?
• How do you approach the hard conversions that true friends need to have?
• Are you pointing your friends to the One who saves?

Scripture

• Proverbs 17:17 – A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for a time of adversity.
• 2 Timothy 4:2 – Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching.

Reflection

Have you ever ended a relationship and all your friends said, I knew they were bad for you. Or after you quit a job or make a big decision, your friends say I wondered how long itnowild take you to do that? These are times when it would have been nice if they spoke the hard truth into you before. Yes, we all have to make our own decisions, but being informed and understanding where someone else comes from us essential to being a friend. God shows us in 2 Timothy that we should use God word to teach, reprove, rebuke, and short but with complete patience. This is what God wants. He wants us to speak the hard truth jtno one another and do it with love and understanding. This is not easy. We have to be open to accept the words and not kill the messenger.

As we close, think about who your true friends are. Think about how you can be the person to be a true friend to others, even when it’s hard.

Prayer

Lord God, thank you for our friends. We know you out them in our lives for a reason. Please give them the coursg and resolve to speak truth into us at all times. We also pray, that you let us speak truth into our friends and open their hearts to hear what we have to say and not take offense. We love you and pray this in your name. Amen.