Authority in Friendships
Better is open rebuke than hidden love. Wounds from a friend can be trusted but an enemy multiplies kisses. Proverbs 27:5-6
The Bible says friendships without authority don’t get you to where you need to go. Do you see the picture; it’s a picture of someone leaving a mark on you. Do you let a friend go on in his dysfunction, in his immaturity, his self gratification, his self preservation and self importance? That’s not being a friend when you let a friend go off the cliff. It’s friendship with teeth and its love and it’s positive, it’s not hatred and negative. Can I ask you some questions; do your close friends flatter you all the time? Do they tell you what you want to hear all the time or do they tell you what you actually need to hear some of the time? Just make your assessment, do you ever have someone come up to you and say, hey dude, can I talk to you about something? I see something happening in your life and as your friend I have to say something. Now that’s a friend who’s willing to risk. That’s a friend who doesn’t want to see you fail.
Everyone needs someone standing in the old blind spot. God knows that, so every now and then the dashboard light is going to come on and somebody close to you is going to say something. They’re going to point something out to you because you can’t see this thing because you lack objectivity. That’s what it means to have great authority. David was great about this, here he is again a big leader in his day and he knows that he’s not called to self diagnose his own character. He says this in Psalm 41:5 “Let a righteous man strike me.” Got the picture.
Father, teach me to accept your authority through others.