Friendship—It's ComplicatedParaugs

Day 4

People are messy, including you and me. Relationships with one another can cause us to mature in Christ as we choose to make peace, forgive, give grace, intentionally connect, and heal or we can become bitter, judgemental, isolated, and ultimately alone. We get to choose how we steward our heart and how we engage with others.

To avoid drama and create authentic connection in friendship, we have to be aware of our weaknesses and be vulnerable enough to bring someone in on that journey. We also have to begin to enjoy our own company to receive love from the One who created us. The One whose image and likeness we are created in. We ourselves are triune beings, spirit, soul, and body, created in the image of a triune God who is three in one. Did you catch God’s words when He said to create mankind in “our” image, in “our” likeness? We are beautifully complex. We cannot negate nor neglect the needs our spirit, soul, and body each have to be made whole. But we also cannot expect humans to meet needs that only intimacy with the Godhead can.

It’s intimacy with Jesus takes us out of unholy isolation.

The place where we encourage one another, and spur one another on toward love and good deeds, is in our gathering, not in isolation. When we forsake the gathering together, we can fall into the trp of self-preservation and try doing life on our own.

The ability for us to choose to keep loving others, no matter the relational pain we’ve been through, pushes us out of a victim mindset, reminding us of the authority we have to change, move forward, heal, and push through. This is how we dive into healthy connections instead of running away from them. I’ve learned that the healthier I’ve become in my intimate relationship with Jesus, the freer I’ve become in friendship, and in any relationship for that matter. Be honest with where you are but choose not to stay there. Let’s stop self-isolating and self-protecting and instead lean into God’s love and step into friendship with healthy expectations.

Reflection Points

• What sort of circumstances or relational interactions cause you to self-preserve and hide from connecting with others?

• Ask yourself, Why do I isolate myself from others? • If we are to love our neighbor as we love ourselves, we have to be intentional to receive love from the right source first. Ask a few questions of the Holy Spirit and just listen.