My heart became hot within me. As I mused, the fire burned; then I spoke with my tongue: "O Lord, make me know my end and what is the measure of my days; let me know how fleeting I am!"

17 January 2008

Friendship

This weekend is the annual CYA (covenanter young adult, i.e., college) Winter Conference. And by "winter", we apparently mean four degrees below zero. Real winter.

Anyhow, my friend David Hanson (pastor of Grace RPC in State College, PA) is coming to speak to the students; he'll be speaking on triumph and tragedy in the book of Job. On my latest read through the book of Job, I was convicted of the quality - or lack thereof - of my friendship toward others. Here are the lessons I took away from Eliphaz, Bildad & Zophar on what not to do.
  • Just "being there" does not qualify me as a good friend
  • Just "being there" does not give me enough capital/sufficient right to say anything I want
  • I will constantly be tempted to rush to judgment without all the facts; and when I do rush to judgment, I'll usually be wrong
  • Theology isn't enough...theology without love kills. Theology without wisdom kills. Wrong theology kills.
  • True sympathy is often impossible (who can really sympathize with Job??) - I can't assume I know what my friends are feeling or enduring
  • Singing the same song sixteen different ways doesn't make it true - Job's friends really didn't say all that much, they just said it a lot.
  • Just because someone's in pain doesn't mean they're wrong

1 comment:

Em said...

Good thoughts. In my own recent struggles, the one sign of friendship for me was when someone actually cried with me while barely saying anything. My soul was comforted somewhat in the fact that they were sharing in my grief. "Weep with those who weep."