Friendship With Our FatherSample

Day 2: Pure Heart and Kind Lips

One of the most important pillars of friendship is honesty. It is impossible to establish a lasting friendship without it. Honesty is a quality that reflects a person's value system. Anyone who desires to be friends with God must be honest, even if he or she is not perfect. Just as it is important to be honest with our friends here on earth, we must be honest with God if we want His friendship.

The Bible says the following: 

• “He who loves purity of heart, and whose speech is gracious, will have the king as his friend.” (Proverbs 22:11 ESV)

The Pharisees never managed to have a friendship with God because they were not honest. There was no purity in their hearts and, therefore, no kindness on their lips but rather hostility and judgment. On the outside they looked like righteous men, but inside they were full of hypocrisy and wickedness (Matthew 23:27–28). No one wants to be friends with a hypocrite—not you, not me, not God.

In Luke 6:45, Jesus explained the difference in a good man and a bad man is. It all starts in your heart. What you have in your heart is what you will bear as fruit. The bad man can fake good fruit, as the Pharisees tried to do, but when God looks at the heart, He sees his hypocrisy.

Anyone who longs to be friends with God must know that having a pure heart is key. The sincerity and kindness of our words is linked to the purity of our heart. Many people who received miracles from Jesus received them for being honest. For example, Matthew 8:8 tells us the story of a man who spoke with Jesus and asked Him to heal his servant. When Jesus told him He would go to his home to pray for the servant, this man told Jesus he was not worthy to have Him in his house. Putting honesty first and foremost, this man went to Jesus in search of his miracle, and he was transparent in accepting there was something in his life that was not right. That didn't stop him from receiving the miracle.

Do you want to be friends with God? Have a sincere heart and kind lips. God's friendship cannot be bought or manipulated; the King provides it.

Meditation

• Do you speak kindly?
• Do you practice being honest even when it is not convenient for you?

Prayer 

Father, being Your friend is a privilege. Give me wisdom to act honestly at all times and to be kind in the way I speak.