A Friend Who Sticks Closer Than A Brother

I hope all of you have someone you can call a true friend…a friend with a mature Christian walk.

Solomon, the second wisest man to walk the planet, wrote: “There is a friend who sticks closer than a brother”. I have lots of friends in the sense of people with whom I hang out or with whom I am on friendly terms. But, I can honestly count my true friends - the people who are allowed into the inner-regions of my soul - on one hand (besides my wife, who comes first). And through life’s journey, I have realized how absolutely critical it is to be choosy - to have a close bond with people who will always have your back, but will always speak the truth to you; who will encourage virtues like grace, courage, integrity and yet someone you can be yourself around, even if it is not the “yourself” you would present to just anybody.

Being “rooted in community” is not simply a by-line in our philosophy of ministry. It is wisdom endorsed by God’s Word that takes place at the most rudimentary level of true friendship. It is a channel of life and strength!

Engaging Your Family With God's Word

I decided to reassert myself in terms of helping my kids engage with God’s Word.  Sad to say, I have gotten a little lazy.  Oh, we read the Bible at night as I tuck them in, but I wanted to give them a little more guidance. 

So, last week our family began to read through the psalms together. It was tough getting Micah to stop getting into the snacks, trying to keep the puppies from distracting Jordan and Josiah, and settling everybody down...made me almost chew my own foot off!  But, we finally did get settled.  We looked at Psalm 1 (a nice way to begin because it is only six verses long), and actually had a wonderful conversation about which voices we listen to—do we listen to God’s instructions or to the influence of our friends? It was a reminder to me not to get discouraged about good habits, even if the first couple of tries don’t work out right.

I encourage you to continue engaging your family with God’s Word. Don’t let past attempts that failed discourage you!

The Family and The Church

One of my favorite pastors to read is Richard Baxter.  Baxter was a very practical teacher and a Puritan pastor who lived from 1615-1691.  Anyone whose books are still in circulation after 350 years must have had some good things to say! 

I found myself reading some chapters out of The Godly Home after a very honest conversation with one of my kids in which I was face-to-face with some significant faults as a parent.  Baxter wrote that for parents (the “governors” of the family), “…these three things are of greatest necessity: authority, skill, and holiness and readiness of will”.  It was a pointed moment of clarity in which I realized that I am in need of the skills, in particular, since this was the area that I had handled a situation so clumsily. 

That is one of the areas in which the church can come alongside the family as a help, for “skill” from a biblical definition is really the meaning of “wisdom”.  That is my prayer for our church: that we can be a place to gain and share skills for living out the Christian life, especially as it pertains to all the facets of the family.