The necessity of friends...

Stephen Murray is a deep thinker - I have appreciated the insights gained from many of his posts. Today he posted twice on the same topic - the Gospel (the Church) and the attitude of love. One of the tensions that he raises is the struggle between love and truth... He touches on a point that I have often felt.

When someone is in error, and particularly when your approach to that person is framed in love, it is not easy to correct or rebuke their wrong idea or behavior. In fact, such a rebuke could feel a little like an 'un-loving' thing to do.

His posts made me think about the relationship between Christians and the rest of the world. There is a sense in which God calls us to engage with God's world, both with those who acknowledge and love God, and also those who don't, for the sake of cultivating the hope that Christ brings into life. The courage to do this comes from true love. Just like God's courage to reach into our sinful and broken existence is motivated by God's love.

We are called to "speak the truth in love", to use a phrase from the apostle Paul. Sometimes that may mean a few words of comfort, encouragement, or sharing a vision of hope. At other times it may mean that one speaks words of challenge or rebuke.

The end of both of these 'interventions' is the same - a discovery of the kind of loving truth that brings freedom and life; the kind of freedom and life that God longs for all persons to have.

I have commented more than once on this blog that I so appreciate the friends who encourage, bless, and uplift me. I also appreciate the friends who love me enough to share a few hard words of caution, correction, or rebuke, when others are too afraid to speak.

One of the great weaknesses of success, I have come to learn, is that it makes others afraid to be honest! This is particularly so when there is a perceived imbalance of power (i.e., the relationship between a student and a teacher, or a pastor and a church member).

Martin Luther King Jnr. once commented:

In th end we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.

This statement rings true for me. I much prefer loving honesty to cowardly deceit! Of course, like all people, I appreciate truthful affirmation and encouraging care. However, I also value honest and truthful friends. I know that sometimes their honesty comes at a greater cost to themselves than it does to me.

Just a few thoughts...

I am feeling a little down today.

I have thought a lot about my life since my father's death four weeks ago. I realise that growth is coupled with intention. Hence, the need to 'process' some of these issues. I acknowledge that I have some more growing to do.