Are you a devoted friend?

[crisipicada]

Are you a devoted friend?
While we live each day, we met different types of person. We met friends along the way and sometimes it develops into more close friends. While we met casual friends, there are really that would be a good and close friends that we have.

Our friends, not only sometimes, but more of the time influence us. As the saying goes, “Tell me who your friends are and I will tell you who you are”. What your friends to be would like you as you are. Are your friends encouraging and motivated you in life? Are your friends give you positive things about life? Or are they become a bad influence to you?

How about you? Are you a good friend to your friends? Are you the one who help them grow in their character and attitude in life? Are you the one who inspire and motivate them to be a better person? Are you the one who help them to have positive outlook in life despite of the bad things the world has offer to them? Think about these questions and answer silently, honestly and truthfully. If you are a good friend, then that is good to hear, if not, it is not too late to change your attitude as a friend.

Our friends can help us or tear us down. When your friend is gashing you down it makes him feeling bad, dishearten, and disappointed and sometimes it affects health. For most of us, we struggle emotionally, and as much as we are not feeling good, there is something wrong that would lead to unhealthy body which sometimes, we as a friend never realized. If our body is weaken , our degree of focus is distorted, our capacity to do things or task every day is dropped and sometimes we cannot make things done of what we intend to do. The level of enthusiasm is low, our willingness to take risk is sank down, the speed of which we operate for our daily life is limited.

Our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. We have the responsibility to take care of our body as it is only a steward to us. What we eat, do exercise, sleeping, taking care of how we feel, are those that we need to take hid, for all these affects our body, Not only that, also as a friend, we can help someone to be of good health. To give good advice, encouragement, sincere in communication, being honest and truthful, are some that helps to keep our body of good health. Are you the kind of friend that helps? Stop and think.

As a friend, we must be devoted one and we must choose that to be. Your relationship – friendship, family, marriage, - can either develop you or destroy you. Think about what kind of friend you are.

I have a friend whom I consider best friend while I was in college. Because of me, she pursue BS Mathematics. I try to help her as much as I can. Make her assignment, spending time tutorial, and so much time devoted so that she will be able to make it into graduation. But the sad thing, she never made it. I know that she always blame me of not passing all her subjects because she find it difficult. I know for sure that she has no interest in pursuing it but I did my part to be a good motivation to her. Although we set apart when she moved to other place, still I really miss her and wanted to communicate to her. Just yesterday when I knew that she is in Qatar working in a store as Cashier. I met her husband in the city proper and wanted to know and Charrise is doing. It is a good thing to know that she is doing fine. It was 11 years ago that I graduated college, and she never pursue any college degree after BSMath.

[Edwin]

Crisi, we have another saying, "birds of a feather all flock together." That basically also means about the same as "tell me who your friends are and I will tell you who you are." "Birds of a feather all flock together" means that all the people hanging out together are pretty much the same. The reason they are with those other people is that they are much like them. Often when someone comes to the Lord they find that they don't fit with their old friends anymore, because their lives are new, and they have now thoughts, new desires, new wishes, and the things that interested them, and that they found enjoyment in they no longer wanted them because of their new life in Christ. Stuart Hamlim was a Hollywood person along with John Wayne, and many other of the greats. He was into drinking, living the low life, and chasing women. But them Jesus got hold of his heart, and he was never the same after that. He wrote many of the old church songs that we sing, like, "It Is No Secret What God Can Do," and many others. John Wayne asked him once if he missed his old life, his friends, and his drinking buddies, well God got hold of his life, and he was never the same after that. His old life and his old friends just didn't fit in anymore. He had a new life in Christ. He has been dead for I don't know how long, but his wife was on a Baptist singing get together with Bill and Gloria Gaither, some of Billy Graham's people and others, and she was testifying about how God got hold of her husband and changed his life. They played and sang some of the songs that he wrote, and it was amazingly wonderful!

There is nothing like having good, uplifting friends! We can seek out the right kind of friends and that will help us! We can be the right kind of friends and that will help other people as well. Just as Crisi pointed out, we can be the best kind of friend to another person, but it is ultimately up to them if they will allow us to be a wonderful friend and help us. Crisi, did all she could to encourage and help her friend, but it was up to her friend to use that to her benefit. Life is difficult. We find difficult subjects in college. It is up to us to decide how we will treat those difficult subjects; if we will use them for stepping stones, or if we will let them be stumbling blocks. I know from helping little kids in school, that sometimes you wish you could help them to do a better job. Often times you can, but ultimately it is up to them, if they will acquire the skills to, say for instance write a good paper, or if they won't care, and just write it any old way. We do the best we can to be a positive frriend, and then it is up to that friend to use that as an advantage.

[wantingmore]

I would be glad to be friends who is true and sincere. If you are not I wont be your friend also.

[red]

I am a devoted friend. But if a friend is not devoted on me so why should i? If a friend goes wrong direction instead of living christ like , i respect and wont meddle until that friend comes back to me for shoulder to cry on. Then i give some sound advices. Sometimes it is better let your friends do their wishes so they will learn from their actions.

[Edwin]

You are right, Red, in that some people have to learn the hard way! God chasteneth ever son that He loves. If we do wrong, God will spank us! I think God would rather have us believe his Word and walk in His way, rather than going our own way and necessitate God's correcting us. The choice is ours really. Either we will do what is right and get the blessing, or we will chose our own way and find that God has to deal with us harshly to get us to understand that it is important to do what is right. As Crisi pointed out, sometimes being a good friend means that we have to tell our friend that they are wrong and they need to turn the right direction. God wants us to warn our friends in love so that they will turn their attention to God and want to serve Him and live for Him!

[crisipicada]

I hope and pray to be a devoted friend. As time past, I become more mature and understand people well.

[Edwin]

That's what we all want, Crisi, is to be a devoted friend! We all are becoming for mature, more like Christ, and that helps us to be devoted friends of other people. We are continually gaining a fuller understanding of people. We understand the good and the bad. One time someone much older than I at the time, and actually he is dead now, I learned from one of my friends, anyway he told me that we learn not only from the positive, but from the negative. He was talking about learning to pastor from working with a pastor. The positive, we say, I would like to be that way, or I would like to do it the way he/she does it, because it works. Or on the negative, we could say, I certainly won't do it that way, because it is obvious that it doesn't work!

[crisipicada]

Being devoted friend, sometimes has limitation. It depends on how close you are to each other and how deep your friendship become.

One thing that I have learned is that, a friend is someone who is there to talk with, someone to share with and someone who will betray you. There are times that a friend will betray and it is very hurting. Being loyal is one thing a friend must possess. For Proverbs 17:17 says, A friend LOVETH at ALL times, and a brother is born for adversity.

[Smiley]

I think that it is important to be a solid friend.By that I mean your friendship should be consistent and dependable.When dealing with you your friends should find you to be the same person every day regardless of changing circumstances,or outside influences.
Any long-time friends know exactly what I will support and what I will not tolerate,and when my opinion might be swayed.
If a friend of mine does something that I disagree with or find really really wrong,I would never 'rat' that person out but I would let that person know why I will not support such behavior.
If you really contemplate the meaning of 'true friend' what should be expected is fairly clear.

[Edwin]

There is good information here from both Smiley and Crisi! I will agree with you, Crisi, that sometimes friendship has limitations, depending on the people and how close they are. No good friend should betray another friend. They might have been a friend at one time, I would even doubt the sincerity of their friendship if they would betray you! I would be thinking, "This person was not really my friend, but merely pretended to be my friend," and maybe they had something to gain from your friendship. "There are people who value things and use people, and there are other people who value people and use things!"