Discovering Who I Am, Relationships, Words of Endurance
Trusting Others With Who I Am
A friend loves you all the time
PROVERBS 17:17 (NCV)
I love the book of Proverbs. It truly is the Book of Wisdom. Last week we learned from Proverbs how important it is to journey through life with wise, safe and trustworthy friends. There is nothing like a true friend who loves us through the good times and the bad times.
The next step is learning to trust those friends – removing the masks that we think they will like and accept – and allowing those friends to see who we truly are underneath those masks. That is a scary step for most of us – I know it was for me – especially within the Christian community. Because …
We gain admiration and respect from behind a mask. We can even intimidate. But as long as we’re behind a mask, any mask, we will not be able to receive love. Then, in our desperation to be loved, we’ll rush to fashion more masks, hoping the next will give us what we’re longing for: To be known, accepted, trusted and loved THE CURE (JOHN LYNCH, BRUCE MCNICHOL, BILL THRALL)
And the truth is that mask wearing stunts our growth – our maturing process. We will never mature into who we truly are until we learn to remove our masks and reveal our struggles and weaknesses with trustworthy friends. The purpose of friendships is to help one another grow and mature – sharpening us into who we never dreamed we could be.
As iron sharpens iron,
so a friend sharpens a friend.
PROVERBS 27:17 (NLT)
On the Journey with You,
Dave Dravecky
