Sticky Friends

We all need friends! Strong, solid and true friends are a blessing. They stick close and are faithful. Then there are sticky ones who are the trying and hard to be around. There are two kinds of sticky friends, which are you?

The first kind are good to have when we need encouragement. We can count on them! They’re a God-send, and we know they are! Through the trying seasons of life, they’ve proved themselves faithful. They’ve stuck close, stayed the course and remained by our side. They walk with us, encouraging us to persevere and remain committed to the essentials of life, and more. They always encourage us to strive for more, and more! They help to narrow our focus to consider what is true, real and valid so that we can attain the victories important and true to who and what we know we are called to be. They’re like glue – bonding us closer to the Lord.

Their determination to stick with us irrespective of the mess we may find ourselves in is a great and wonderful symbol of true friendship. How rare these types of friends are. Are you one? Does anyone in your circle of friends know you to be a true, constant, and firmly committed to them as a friend? Can they vouch for you? Can you vouch for them?

Then, there are those friends who are simply sticky and messy – all the time! They always seem to be caught up in something that leaves not only them, but those around them struggling to clean up after them. You try to lift them up and out, only for the situation to become messier, stickier, and soon they are once again caught in a bog. They’re clingy and don’t know when it’s time to move forward with life, they don’t know how to take the steps to follow you as you try to walk with them, and lead them. Rather than stepping forward, they step back right into the situation they were in. But, this time it is messier than before. All truths shared with them, all counseling, all encouragement has failed – they don’t know how to bond with truth. Once again, they’re stuck in a chaotic shambles. They’ve ended up in a greater pit than before because their focus is to look down and wallow in the mess around them, rather than looking upwards and hoping in moving onwards.

Which kind of sticky are you – the kind that bonds, accepts and hold tightly to the Truths of Scripture, or are you sticky – not able to bond, accept and hold to Truth. What is missing in what you believe that stops you from bonding tightly, and securely to the Lord? What should you do to change? Can you?

• A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity (Proverbs 17:17).

• A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother (Proverbs 18:24).

• The Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers (Romans 8:26-29).

• The Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will (2 Timothy 2:24-26).

#friend #wisdom