Excerpts from Reflections/January 2009 by Lori Wagner

Most of us lead hectic lives. It just seems to be the way the world is spinning these days. And when life gets crazy, we often have difficulty developing and maintaining friendships.

This is dangerous, Ladies. Neglecting our need to socialize could be harmful to our health, almost as damaging as life without chocolate. Face it, what else makes a women feel better when she is having a bad day emotionally? Chocolate and a good talk with a sweet sister? Which brings me to my point: Friends are like chocolate, you can’t live without them, but then again who wants to?

Friends are like chocolate chips in the cookie of life. Like chocolate, friends give us pleasure. They share the good times and the bad times.

“Ointment and perfume rejoice the heart: so doth the sweetness of a man’s friend. ( Proverbs 27:9). I once heard someone say, “the only thing better than a good friend is a good friend with chocolate.”

True friendships are among the many wonderful blessings of those who belong to the body of Christ. As believers, we find ourselves filling many different roles in the lives of others, a reciprocal arrangement that benefits our lives as well. The same friend that we celebrated with last week may lend us a shoulder to cry on this week.

There are times when we find out what a true friend really is. A real friend knows when to keep her mouth closed and her arms open (think of Job’s friend). A real friend knows when to say “I love you” instead of “you should…” A real friend knows when you need a pat on the back or a good kick in the backside. “Faithful are the wounds of a friend” (Proverbs 27:6).

A friend is defined as someone that you know and trust. Someone for which you have an affection and who provides cooperation or assistance. The times that we feel unloving or unfriendly, we would do well to take those emotions to the Word and let them sit there until they all get back to where they need to be. Someone wrote “ I am a woman of many moods, and they all require chocolate.” A friend is a gift from God, a gift to unwrap and enjoy over time, a gift to share with others.

Do. It’s a tiny word with a big meaning. It’s two letters that are filled with action. I’ve thought a lot about this word as I’ve studied the book of First John. To be honest, I don’t think I’ve ever paid very much attention to this book before. I looked at it as one of the books you read to get to Revelation. But as I’ve spent some time in this book, I’ve come to realize that it is impossible to be called a child of God without the word “do.”

When we choose to walk with God, we choose to walk in the light of His Word and His commandments. We live the way He wants us to live. It is very important to God that we make the choice to live this way. First John 1:6 states: “If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth.” Notice the word “do.” How does one do truth? One does it by living and believing what Jesus taught. We believe that Jesus died on the cross, was risen from the grave and conquered death and hell. We live it out by loving our neighbors and by loving our brethren in Christ. This loving takes action. This loving takes doing.

It’s easy to say “I love you”, but is it love if it is just words? John says,” But whoso hath this world’s good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him? (I John 3:17) We have to put our love into action for it to truly be love., John also tells us, “…let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.” (I John 3:18) It’s not the words that make it love, it’s the doing.

The little verb “do” is also used in conjunction with righteousness. We are told that “…every one that doeth righteousness is born of Him.” and “…he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as He is righteous.” (I John 2:29, 3:7) We can learn from this that righteousness is not something that passively happens to us; we have to do something to acquire it. We have to make the attempt to live according to God’s Word because righteousness will not happen on its own.

Do is a verb. Doing takes work. We have to work hard at loving others, doing the right thing, and staying in God’s will. Do we get anything in return for all this doing? Yes. We get a most precious, eternal gift for the work we have done. I John 2:17 says, “And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof; but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever.” When all of our doing is done, we will get to spend eternity in heaven with the One who did more than we could ever…do.

Sis. Dionne Braddock