Day 21 | Speaking truth

Reflection

Laughing late into the night. Picking up where you left off decades ago. Or making a new connection that just sparks. Friendship can be a wonderful thing. Proverbs 27:9 shows us how it can bring joy, just like the scent of perfume. Smells have an incredible ability to get straight to our emotions, evoking memories that we may have long forgotten. Sometimes the same is true with a good friend.

Good friends speak truth to us, truth that spurs us on, or helps us avoid danger. Indeed, none more so than Jesus himself.

In John 5, Jesus heals a paralytic. Verse 14 tells us that having slipped away, Jesus later comes to find him. He exhorts him to ‘stop sinning’. Jesus calls his followers to believe in him (verse 24), living lives that look like his, trusting in his promises. He is a faithful friend to us, teaching us how to live in a way that leads to our flourishing. He was a good friend to us while we were still enemies of God. (Romans 5:10)

Some of us feel like we have an abundance of good friends, and yet some of us long for friendship in which we can both be known and feel comfortable. However you feel, it’s in our power to be a good friend to others, even when they are not good to us, and in doing so to share the love of Jesus.

Who can you be a good friend to today? Who can you speak truth in love to, as Jesus first did to us?

Jesus, I need your friendship as I go about my day. Please help me to follow your good advice, and to be a good friend to others. Amen.