Good morning!
Welcome to your morning coffee! May our Heavenly Father bring us closer to himself, together. Father you sent your son to be the firstborn from among the dead, to gather your children unto yourself. God we are here. Give us what we need today to be one body. Guide our thought-lives that we might bear each other's burden of guarding our wellspring-hearts. We need you Father, and we need each other. Enable us to be faithful to one another Father, to be one as you and your son are one. Father, in the name of Jesus, and by the power of he who lives within us, the Spirit, help us to form our relationships with one another according to your will, that we might better, together, obey it.
Your Morning Song: "Wild River" by Phil Wickham
Your Morning Scripture: Proverbs 27:6
Faithful are the wounds of a friend;
profuse are the kisses of an enemy.
The Book of Proverbs is a seemingly disorganized collection of sayings, but it is God's ideal world placed richly before us, ideal in that it does not exist, yet. It is ideal in that it is God's desire that each of live out his will, being transformed ourselves into the ideal person, Christ, and living out of that new identity, transforming our sphere of influence in the world, our box, into God's ideal world, and where better to start than relationships!
As far as application goes, this specific verse is not all that hard to understand how to apply it to our lives. It is better to have real, honest, open, Godly relationships between people who genuinely love each other than to have fake relationships with fake people who don't care at all what God wants.
And yet, there is the issue. In saying, "not all that hard to understand" I chose my words very carefully. Applying this proverb to our lives is actually not easy at all. It takes hard work to create the kind of relationships with others that God desires, built on loving truth, truthful love.
Not only is it hard work, but it is work that cannot be done on accident. Friends faithful to wound must be found, embraced, and kept on purpose.
And so today we ought to take advantage of this wonderful opportunity. Instead of waiting until the natural flow of our lives crashes us into our lack of intentionality in building Godly relationships, let's just ask ourselves some tough questions and give ourselves honest answers. After all, this is just a little online devo. And there's no harm in just thinking this through for a moment, while no one but God is watching.
Are we being intentional about how we form our deepest relationships?
Intentional to create truth-full, love-born, mutual spiritual growth?
Or are we like beasts, allowing instinct and appetite to create shallow mockeries of Jesus's Gethsemane prayer for us to be one as he is one with the Father?
How honest are we with our friends about ourselves?
How hard are we to confront?
How did we react the last time someone loved us with a truth that was hard to accept?
Would anonymity change how your friends and family would describe you to others?
How hard would it be for you to thank someone for telling you something you needed to hear, but didn't want to hear?
Are you too scared or too eager to faithfully wound a friend?
Is this whole concept even an active part of our lives?
This price of forming Godly relationships is similar to the cost of worship paling in comparison to value of God's pleasure in our faithful seeking and praising of him. God delights in us when we embrace the deep struggle and pain that real, Godly relationships require to flourish. And he pours out his joy on us when we are faithful to one another, to wound, to weep, to rejoice, to thank, to encourage, in all things.
Do the hard work. Be intentional. Be approachable. Welcome, pursue, and keep close the ones who faithfully wound. And walk awash in God's strengthening joy, together!
