One-Sided Friendships
Romans 15:1-4
We who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves. 2 Each of us should please our neighbors for their good, to build them up. 3 For even Christ did not please himself but, as it is written: “The insults of those who insult you have fallen on me.”[a] 4 For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope.
GOOD FRIENDS are like diamonds. They’re very precious; they arrive in the rough; they don’t magically appear at your feet, you have to dig for them; and some people who should be gems turn out to be lumps of coal.
It’s easy to spot at least four kinds of friendship that disappoint and frustrate. Maybe you’re in the middle of one of these friendships right now.
- Part-time friends. Some friends are great buddies when you’re one-on-one. But they ignore you or worse when you’re with the crowd. Others are just the opposite. When they’re with a bunch of kids, they act plenty nice. But when you get them alone, they act like you don’t exist. Some part-time friends are warm and cozy if you spend money on them. When the money cools off, so does the friendship.
- Conditional friends. These are people who treat friendship like bait, dangling a relationship in front of you to get you to do what they want. As long as you cough up what they want, you are friends. But as soon as you choke, the friendship sputters.
- Undependable friends. From the careless way they hurt their friends, these people seem to lack the tiniest sense of responsibility or integrity. They betray confidences, gossip, or break their word. Because you never know where you stand with them, a meaningful friendship can’t thrive.
- Superficial friends. A superficial friend can’t ever get serious. You need to talk through something personal or meaningful, and your friend changes the subject to something trite or non-threatening or makes a joke about it. Chances are that relationship won’t ever go beyond small talk.
Here’s a scary question: Can you spot any of these
REFLECT: Are you a diamond? Or a hunk of coal?
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