Have you ever had someone give you an encouraging word or advice that you immediately had to use? This happened to me the other day. A friend reminded me that some things in life require us to remain “mature in Christ”. To me, this includes the various challenges we face in dealing with people, especially those who have “done us wrong”.
Amazingly, the advice my friend gave me had to be used later that day! A situation arose where I reflected on where God has brought me from & not wanting to go back into the craziness of friendships gone wrong. God will truly remind us that we’ve “been there and done that.” I’m a firm believer that if God shows you how certain people are, believe Him.
God will bring you full circle to face things in your life; this will show you if you’re truly over a situation, especially if it’s a situation where someone hurt you. I have been faced with this in the past few months. I do see the growth in myself with this; because the situation doesn’t affect me like it used to. I see it as a lessoned learned & to keep moving forward. Yep, that’s the maturity of Christ in me. Thank goodness! 🙂
The Bible states in Matthew 18:21-22 about forgiveness: 21Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?” 22Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times. (NIV)
We all have to keep working on being mature in Christ, because the advice given above definitely takes maturity to accomplish! Forgiveness remains a tough thing to do, but it’s a part of life.
Lastly, some of the best advice I’ve heard is in Tyler Perry’s play, “Madea Goes to Jail”. Madea is giving relationship advice, but also touches upon friendship. Tyler Perry has his own way of putting a twist on advice giving! Enjoy 🙂 View the clip HERE
Until next time.
Blessings,
© Lisi P, 2010
Amen!! Being mature in Christ takes a lot but its the way to go! I am definitely with you on this post!! Great post~