This past fall, I walked into the Women’s Bible Study at church, awaiting a transformation.
It had been a rough summer and I was craving some community, some refueling, and some guidance from the Lord.
As I approached the table, there sat a woman who just beamed with the Holy Spirit.
Have you ever met a person like that? Where you just see their light.
It’s almost like looking directly into the sun, the brilliant light just pours from them and fills the room.
She had been a blessing, in due time. Just as God promises, his timing is always perfect. (1 Peter 5:6)
She had just moved to the area and she was such an answer to prayer.
She was such a refreshing rain in the middle of my great season of drought.
We have come a long way from that bible study table, she has become a major touchstone in my life.
A blessing poured over so many times.
There is something so spectacular about a church community. When you meet a friend who pursues the Lord, they pull you closer to him in just a magnificent way.
It’s a strengthening, a new perspective that you may not have had on your own and most of all, it is accountability.
This friend had been delivered in the midst of a season that is still coming to a close. Even though I have valued her friendship and inspiration so much, I feel I fall short on returning the favor.
In the book of Matthew, Jesus gives this charge that is so convicting but it is such a good word. A word that I have had to take with humility and grace.
“And why worry about a speck in your friend’s eye when you have a log in your own? How can you think of saying to your friend, ‘Let me help you get rid of that speck in your eye,’ when you can’t see past the log in your own eye? Hypocrite! First get rid of the log in your own eye; then you will see well enough to deal with the speck in your friend’s eye.” Matthew 7:3-5 NLT
In church settings, we often use the term Covenant Relationship in reference to marriage.
But as a christian, every relationship we enter into should be allotted the same grace of a covenant relationship.
In a covenant, there is no legalistic standard that voids the contract. To have a covenant relationship means, we hold up our end of the bargain even when the other doesn’t. Because, that is what Christ has done for us.
In this season, I have had a log in my eye.
I have had my own sins and digressions to process and grow through.
This made me more of a worst friend than a best friend.
Sometimes that is hard to admit, it is hard to expose where we are broken. It is hard to say that we can not carry the burdens of those around us but, it is right.
If we are going to help our friends we have to lay our transgressions before the Lord first.
We have to be able to lay ourselves down before we can pick others up.
In this exchange of humility and grace, we are allotted freedom from expectation and this allows for true growth in community.
Through this storm, my friend has been constant and so gracious. She has shown the love of Christ even when she was suffering too.
Now that I can see clearly, now that my own log is lifted, it is allowing me to pour back.
It is allowing me to give the same love.
This is the basis one which our faith has been built a firm foundation.
This is where we become the body, as brothers and sisters in Christ and we lift each other.
We will have logs and we will have specs.
That’s okay, it’s okay to not be okay.
God is the apt filter for all of our hardships, he is the scale on which we can lay our problems and when we can’t lift ourselves up he lifts our burdens. (Matthew 11:28)
We are going to be the best of friends and the worst of friends but, if we are true friends, we will be patient and loving as Christ is with us.
Whether you have a log or a spec, there is a community who is compassionate and understanding. They are willing to listen and comfort and show you the love, you just have to be willing to say, I am messy and broken.
As I always tell my kids, if I don’t know what’s broken, how can I help you fix it?
God thank you for answered prayers and community. Thank you for lifting my burdens and giving me rest. May you be an ever present reminder and model for my life. Thank you for sweet friends in far off places. Thank you for healing. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Reason 2911 