What You Owe Your Friends
Honesty
Thursday, February 17, 2000
 1 of 1
Key Bible Verse: Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbor, for we are all members of one body (Ephesians 4:25). Bonus Reading: Proverbs 12:17-22
Fred Smith and I were having lunch with a well-known personality. Fred kept contradicting this man, correcting him several times. After lunch, I asked Fred what he was doing.
"Steve," he replied, "I may be the only friend he has. He has a lot of admirers, a lot of worshipers, and a lot of solicitors, but he doesn't have anybody who'll tell him the truth. He knows that I don't want anything from him, and he knows that I'm his friend. I have a gift very few can give him. I can give him the gift of truth."
Did you ever think that you owed your friends the truth? That's what friends do: They love each other enough to tell each other the truth. That's sometimes painful, sometimes it causes heartbreak; but it must be done anyway. If you ever lose a friend because you wouldn't hold back the truth, you made a mistake about it being a friendship in the first place.
So go. Tell the truth. Do it with love, compassion and gentleness, but do it. Your friend will come to
appreciate you more for it.
Steve Brown in Jumping Hurdles
Personal Challenge:
-
Do you have a friend who needs you to speak some truth? Prayerfully go to that person and tell the truth.
Thought to Apply: Friends, if we be honest with ourselves, we shall be honest with each other.
GEORGE MACDONALD (SCOTTISH WRITER, 19TH CENTURY)
Credits: Adapted fromThursday: Jumping Hurdles (Baker, 1992)
Copyright © 2000 by the author or Christianity Today International/Men of Integrity. For reprint information call 630-260-6200 or e-mail mail@menofintegrity.net.
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