FRIENDSHIP.Uzorak

A friend is candid

As Oscar Wilde said, “good friends stab you in the front”. Friends talk honestly: they counsel, they rebuke, they speak well. Friends speak the truth in love. Friends don’t always tell you what you want to hear. They tell you what you need to hear. And this brings up an important point about being candid in friendship. You can listen to the hard words because there is trust. Friends are trustworthy. They won’t share what you’ve told them. There is no fear. 

Friendship should be a safe space where there is honesty and trust. It’s really important that we have Christian friends, as they will be the ones who build, equip and rebuke us because we have the same foundation. Of course, if the purpose of friendship is to point others to Jesus, it’s really important to have non-Christian friends too, as these are amazing gospel opportunities. As another friend once said to me, if we really love our friends we will pray for them to know Jesus. But we listen to the advice of my non-believing friends differently. They are coming from a different standpoint so it is important that we filter their advice through our Christian worldview. 

Question Do you have people in your life who can speak to you hard truths? If not, what can you do about that? 

Prayer Dear Heavenly Father, please help me to be a friend who speaks the truth in love. Please help me to be a friend who can say both the kind and hard words when needed. When friends speak hard truths to me please help me to be gracious and loving. Amen.