One last photo from Mark and my 50th wedding anniversary celebration of all our children and their families. I’m very thankful for the happy relationships we have with all of these dear people. To God be the glory!!
Recently I watched two young ladies openly and blatantly explain on a national news program how they have cut out of their friendships everyone who did not contribute something to their lives. I felt confident the person interviewing them would challenge their thinking, but no, their philosophy was praised as a wonderful decision that has and will continue to bring much success to their lives. I can’t imagine what our society would be like if everyone followed this same thinking.
This Thursday our Ladies Bible Study begins for the fall season and we will be continuing a study gleaning what God has to say in Proverbs about various practical aspects of our lives. This week we zero in on friendships. Although the Bible gives many warnings about who we associate with, these always deal with honoring God, not ourselves. We naturally want everything to be about us (as is apparent in young children)—our happiness, our success, our fame, etc. But, God turns all of that around and makes it very clear that everything is to be about Him first of all, and other people secondly. In fact honoring Him most highly results in a great concern for the welfare of other people above myself. “And he answered, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.’" Luke 10:27
With all of this in mind let’s plan to look at Proverbs to see friendship from a Godly perspective. Our dear babysitters will be with us again this year to care for your little ones. Plan to be encouraged tomorrow morning 9:30 to 11 am in the Fireside Room.