I OWE A DEBT TO A FRIEND
By Wade Martin Hughes, Sr.
Kyfingers@aol.com
TEXT:
Proverbs 27:17 Iron sharpeth iron; so a man sharpeth the countenance of his friends.
1 Kings 3:3 Give therefore thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy people, that I may discern between good and bad:---
Today, I ponder FRIENDS. What would I do for a friend if I knew this could be the last opportunity I had to express my love?
I ask myself... What is a friend?
Have I been a friend?
The older I get the more, I love two words: HOME and FRIENDS!
How would you define friend?
I am told about this newspaper in England giving a reward for the best definition of what is a friend?
Thousands answered, the winner?
"A FRIEND IS ONE THAT COMES WHEN EVERYONE ELSE GOES."
I was raised in a Church of God parsonage.
I never knew the joy of living in one place very
long.
In my time at home, our longest tenure was 3 years,
and that was once, the 4th, 5th, and 6th grades.
One, one year tenure, 3rd grade but as a whole, I
never had close long term friends ...
as the call to new areas came.
Most of our tenures averaged around two years.
During the one year tenure, 3rd grade, in Indiana,
I had friends, named Ricky and Johnny.
We moved from Indiana to Ohio.
I cried all the way, I knew I would miss my friends.
Dad told me we would have many new friends, and
sometime we would return to see our old friends.
I did get to see my Indiana friends one more time.
When I was in the 9th grade, another friend allowed
my older brother and I to ride from Tennessee to
Indiana with them, we had a few days visit and the
old friend bought a bus ticket and we rode the
Greyhound home.
I have never seen many of those friends again.
Mom, Dad and my older brother have posted me from
time to time.
I ponder how are those friends today?
Are they in church?
Several have passed to the real home.
Well, the journey went from Ohio, to Indiana, to Ohio, to Tennessee, to Illinois, to Kentucky, to Virginia and back to Kentucky.
But in my journey, I am learning the VALUE OF A FRIEND.
Dad was absolutely right, we have many friends all
over the place.
I am a very rich person today in friends, because of
the ministry and travel.
We take to lightly what a friend is...?
Friends are flowers, variety makes the bouquet of life interesting.
Each friend is different ... distinctive.
We are individuals fastened at the heart.
One is never a complete person ... to be totally whole we need others. Two eyes are limited.
Let me share first some general things about friends.
While, we must know how to say,
"I AM SORRY," a long term friend’s heart will say ...
"FRIEND, YOU DON’T HAVE TO SAY...
I AM SORRY. I UNDERSTAND."
We will stay united, for the world can never sever what the cross unites.
Yet love will say, I am sorry, even when it will be rejected.
Proverbs 27:17 Iron sharpeth iron; so a man sharpeth the countenance of his friends.
Friends need not always agree.
True or false?
Amos 3:3 says something like...
How can two walk together unless they agree?
I ponder this.
Long term friends have to learn to agree to disagree.
I ponder the words, bury your hatchet, but not in your friends head.
Long term friends over look faults and words spoken in anger.
Forgiveness has to be ... because no two living people agree on everything, unless one is a moron. Then they still won’t agree.
I have often heard about God saying to Solomon, ask for anything you want, ... and he asked for wisdom. I was very surprised, when I read what Solomon asked for, his first request was UNDERSTANDING.
1 Kings 3:3 Give therefore thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy people, that I may discern between good and bad:---
Wow, have I asked God for understanding?
Real understanding can hurt at times?
When those around me disagree/argue/complain...
Do I try to understand?
Can I see there are many sides to every argument?
Do I only see my side?
Do I listen? (If you know my writing, you know,
I say the kiss is not the greatest act of love,
but rather to listen.)
We often can’t listen, because we are jumping to
conclusions.
Can I disagree with you and still listen?
Can I disagree and try to understand from where you
are coming?
Can my friends have a bad day or week and speak terrible, and I love them anyway?
Stop and read 1 Corinthians 13 to understand love.
Did you?
Long term friendship must be able to divorce yourself from your ideas and self.
Because we can’t divorce our self from our ideas,
we divorce our friends.
I have seen good friends refuse good advice, and
drop the good friend to the, has been column.
Then one can’t swallow their pride to say you were right, if only I listened.
The other can’t live without saying... I told you
so.
Pick your friends but not to pieces.
While we must forgive our enemies, should we forgive our friends?
Remember the old pressure cookers?
They had a jigglier on top and a pressure gauge.
When the pressure raised to a certain point the
jigglier would jiggle and relieve the pressure.
Good long term friends become the jigglier for
others.
Blow up with me, to save blowing up and embarrassing
yourself.
When you are blown off your feet by some storm or
some idea that is thrown into your lap, time helps
healing ... say, I can handle it, I understand.
Listen. There is an art to listening.
You will find real friends in time of adversity, the enemy can hide in times of prosperity.
A friend is a second self, another set of eyes and ears.
We need more than a shoulder-clapper, a wet weather
spring.
We need others that are willing to say, that is wrong. Look at this.
Every one that flatters is not necessarily a friend.
The best mirror is a friend!
We will all go through dry times.
In dry times it is easy to drop friends and become
as the turtle and pull in a shell.
Can we afford this?
What if someone rejects an idea or you, do you abort the friendship?
Joseph declared to Potiphar’s wife, as she tempted him to cheat,
Gen. 39: 9 How can I do this to God or to my friend,
Potiphar?
Something’s friends will just refuse.
Potiphar trusted Joseph.
Joseph was a good friend.
As David remembered his friend Jonathan, even after several messes, David thanked God and his friend and praised God and Jonathan, so this day, I remember.
A SOUL TIE, the value of a friend!
Thank God for the friends to my family.
There have been friends that have stood by WITH US
in some hard times.
Would you get out pen and paper, maybe a card, maybe a phone call, and tell a friend...
"I am a better person because of you."
We wait until the hearse rolls back up to the
chapel, and men carry out the flowers that we have
gone to great expense to purchase,
for a friend that we were to busy to stop and
tell them, "THANK YOU!"
My heart says, there are some friends that are hurting alone, the enemy has whispered in their ear,...
"they are nothing and nobody,"
a little card would cheer them.
Cry when they are gone, but reach out and hug them while they are here.
We say, but I am lonely...
Proverbs says: to have friends show yourself
friendly.
COULD YOU GIVE A KIND WORD TO A FRIEND REAL SOON?
WHY WAIT?
You care, tell them!
Show them!
What excuse do you have for not reaching out and encouraging another?
Today we owe a debt for the friendships and love others have invested in us. Will I repay some of this debt?
I ask again:
If not you, ... then who?
If not here, ... then where?
If not now, ... then when?
His servant,
Wade Martin Hughes, Sr.
Kyfingers@aol.com
Help me, my hands are so small, you can enlarge my hands and pass this on to another.
