Don’t use foul or abusive language. Let everything you say be good and helpful, so that your words will be an encouragement to those who hear them. Ephesians 4:29 NLT
Kind words are like honey— sweet to the soul and healthy for the body. – A troublemaker plants seeds of strife; gossip separates the best of friends. Proverbs 16:24, 28
WHAT’S YOUR TAKEAWAY? Please share your comments in the reply bar
Personal Reflection Questions:
Why are we instructed to watch we say?
How can your words impact your friendship?
READ: PROVERBS 22:24-25 AND 27:4, 1 CORINTHIANS 15:33, AND JAMES 4:4-6; SOAP: JAMES 4:4
Don’t befriend angry people or associate with hot-tempered people, 25 or you will learn to be like them and endanger your soul. – Anger is cruel, and wrath is like a flood, but jealousy is even more dangerous. Proverbs 22:24-25 and 27:4
Don’t be fooled by those who say such things, for “bad company corrupts good character.” 1 Cor. 15:33
You adulterers! Don’t you realize that friendship with the world makes you an enemy of God? I say it again: If you want to be a friend of the world, you make yourself an enemy of God. 5 Do you think the Scriptures have no meaning? They say that God is passionate that the spirit he has placed within us should be faithful to him. 6 And he gives grace generously. As the Scriptures say, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” James 4:4-6
Friendship with the world means that we have become too comfortable with the fallen order of things …
For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places. Ephesians 6:12 NLT
What’s your takeaway from today? I would love to know your thoughts, which can be shared in the reply bar
We can guard ourselves against false friends, but we also need to remember who our real enemy is.
With their words, the godless destroy their friends, but knowledge will rescue the righteous. – A gossip goes around telling secrets, but those who are trustworthy can keep a confidence. Proverbs 11:9 and 13
Personal REFLECTION QUESTION: HOW DOES BAD COMPANY CORRUPT GOOD MORALS?
Love prospers when a fault is forgiven, but dwelling on it separates close friends. PROVERBS 17:9 NLT
For people will love only themselves and their money. They will be boastful and proud, scoffing at God, disobedient to their parents, and ungrateful. They will consider nothing sacred. 3 They will be unloving and unforgiving; they will slander others and have no self-control. They will be cruel and hate what is good. 4 They will betray their friends, be reckless, be puffed up with pride, and love pleasure rather than God. 5 They will act religious, but they will reject the power that could make them godly. Stay away from people like that! 2 Timothy 3:2-5 NLT
Paul’s Final Instructions
And now I make one more appeal, my dear brothers and sisters. Watch out for people who cause divisions and upset people’s faith by teaching things contrary to what you have been taught. Stay away from them. 18 Such people are not serving Christ our Lord; they are serving their own personal interests. By smooth talk and glowing words, they deceive innocent people. Romans 16:17-18 NLT
The early church and our current churches face a similar problem: people who are only interested in serving themselves.
Since God chose you to be the holy people he loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. 13 Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others. 14 Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds us all together in perfect harmony.
Ephesians 4:32 New Living Translation
Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you.
Proverbs 17:17 New Living Translation
A friend is always loyal, and a brother is born to help in time of need.
WHAT’S YOUR TAKE-AWAY?
All of our friendships will require forgiveness at some point or another. –
32 “If you love only those who love you, why should you get credit for that? Even sinners love those who love them! 33 And if you do good only to those who do good to you, why should you get credit? Even sinners do that much! 34 And if you lend money only to those who can repay you, why should you get credit? Even sinners will lend to other sinners for a full return.
35 “Love your enemies! Do good to them. Lend to them without expecting to be repaid. Then your reward from heaven will be very great, and you will truly be acting as children of the Most High, for he is kind to those who are unthankful and wicked. 36 You must be compassionate, just as your Father is compassionate.
WHAT’S YOUR TAKE AWAY? (scroll down and leave a reply)
Read: Hebrews 10:24-25 and Ruth 1:16-17; SOAP: Hebrews 10:24-25
Hebrews 10:24-25 New Living Translation
Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. 25 And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.
Ruth 1:16-17 New Living Translation
But Ruth replied, “Don’t ask me to leave you and turn back. Wherever you go, I will go; wherever you live, I will live. Your people will be my people, and your God will be my God. 17 Wherever you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord punish me severely if I allow anything but death to separate us!”
We can be an encouragement by our persistent friendship!
Dear brothers and sisters, if another believer is overcome by some sin, you who are godly should gently and humbly help that person back onto the right path. And be careful not to fall into the same temptation yourself. 2 Share each other’s burdens, and in this way obey the law of Christ.3 If you think you are too important to help someone, you are only fooling yourself. You are not that important.
4 Pay careful attention to your own work, for then you will get the satisfaction of a job well done, and you won’t need to compare yourself to anyone else. 5 For we are each responsible for our own conduct.
6 Those who are taught the word of God should provide for their teachers, sharing all good things with them.
7 Don’t be misled—you cannot mock the justice of God. You will always harvest what you plant. 8 Those who live only to satisfy their own sinful nature will harvest decay and death from that sinful nature. But those who live to please the Spirit will harvest everlasting life from the Spirit. 9 So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up. 10 Therefore, whenever we have the opportunity, we should do good to everyone—especially to those in the family of faith.
Our relationship with God should flow into the way we treat others.
Read: 1 Samuel 18:1-4 and 1 Samuel 20; SOAP: 1 Samuel 18:1-4
1 Samuel 18:1-4 New Living Translation
Saul Becomes Jealous of David
After David had finished talking with Saul, he met Jonathan, the king’s son. There was an immediate bond between them, for Jonathan loved David. 2 From that day on Saul kept David with him and wouldn’t let him return home. 3 And Jonathan made a solemn pact with David, because he loved him as he loved himself. 4 Jonathan sealed the pact by taking off his robe and giving it to David, together with his tunic, sword, bow, and belt.
1 Samuel 20 New Living Translation
Jonathan Helps David
David now fled from Naioth in Ramah and found Jonathan. “What have I done?” he exclaimed. “What is my crime? How have I offended your father that he is so determined to kill me?”
2 “That’s not true!” Jonathan protested. “You’re not going to die. He always tells me everything he’s going to do, even the little things. I know my father wouldn’t hide something like this from me. It just isn’t so!”
3 Then David took an oath before Jonathan and said, “Your father knows perfectly well about our friendship, so he has said to himself, ‘I won’t tell Jonathan—why should I hurt him?’ But I swear to you that I am only a step away from death! I swear it by the Lord and by your own soul!”
4 “Tell me what I can do to help you,” Jonathan exclaimed.
“I am praying not only for these disciples but also for all who will ever believe in me through their message. 21 I pray that they will all be one, just as you and I are one—as you are in me, Father, and I am in you. And may they be in us so that the world will believe you sent me.
“I have given them the glory you gave me, so they may be one as we are one. 23 I am in them and you are in me. May they experience such perfect unity that the world will know that you sent me and that you love them as much as you love me. 24 Father, I want these whom you have given me to be with me where I am. Then they can see all the glory you gave me because you loved me even before the world began!
When our friendships are defined by sacrificial love, they point to God’s sacrificial love for the world.
Me From the Inside Out 