Day 2382 of the 7 day Bible verse challenge.
Psalm 41:9 NIV
We've been talking about friendship and how rare it actually is in our world. It's truly sad that we've forgotten what a friend ought to be and how we should treat those that are a part of our lives. We take it all for granted and don't understand just how much we should appreciate the folks that are there for us and who are set on trying to make us better. As we discussed yesterday, too many people are only living for themselves and focused on what others can offer them. This entitled and self-serving mindset is ruining more things than we can imagine!
Unfortunately, those that we call our friends aren't always deserving of that title. Sometimes they're simply people that we spend time around without ever building a true connection or the solid foundation that a friendship really needs to have. They're just acquaintances that we pick up for a time along this journey and at some point they jump off our bandwagon when we're not what they're looking for anymore. This world likes this idea of "fake it 'til you make it". But in reality, when it comes to these illusionary friendships we can only fake it for so long before it's best to simply walk away. So I guess it's more of a "fake it 'til we break it" kind of thing.
But it’s never comfortable to experience a friendship disintegrate. It’s not fun to be left wondering why or what could have been done to save it. But what we have to understand is that we’re travelling through a place that is heading in a drastically different direction than the one that we’re called to go. When we choose a life of faith and give our hearts to Christ, things are going to change. We’re going to change. Our priorities will be different. The way we think, the way we speak, the lives we live will all be different. And sadly, many people just won’t understand the switch. If they like the sinful and broken version of us then they may not like the version that chooses to leave those broken ways behind.
This is something that I've dealt with a lot personally. In all honesty, nearly every person that I once called a friend is no longer in my life. And that truth has led me to a lot of questions and confusion. What happened? What went wrong? What did I do that sent them all running away? Was it something I said? Why did I get left behind or cast out? I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about those questions and plenty of others like them. But then something hit me not too long ago that answers every single question or doubt about what happened or what changed along the way. I happened. God happened. I discovered that I was tired of trying to please people by doing things that simply weren’t okay. I was tired of trying to fake it just that I could keep holding on to these “friendships” that required me to be someone that I was never meant to be. So I didn’t lose those friends, I never had them.
Along this journey we’re going to see people walk out of our lives. We’re going to be fooled into trusting people who don’t really have our backs, who may have never actually cared about us to begin with. And it’s gonna hurt. And we’re gonna wonder why. And we’re going to carry the scars from those wounds inflicted by people that we thought were our friends. But what we always need to remember is that God knows what He’s doing. He will remove things from our lives that are only going to pull us in the wrong direction. He will lead us away from places that we’re not supposed to be. He will help us make the changes and follow through on them because that’s the only way that we can truly be made new and reborn into a life following Christ.
It’s not going to be easy following the narrow path and that requires us to leave things behind. But even though it hurts we have to realize that it’s for the best. It’s better to lose something that’s not right for us than to live our lives trying to hold on to it because we’re afraid to do this alone. The Bible tells us that small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it. This will never be about numbers. It’s about doing what we know is right and following that narrow road wherever it leads, and being thankful for whatever it leads us away from!
Comments
Post a Comment