Tell It Like It Is Mr. Wesley

“What has exceedingly hurt you in time past, nay, and I fear, to this day, is lack of reading. I scarce ever knew a preacher who read so little. And perhaps, by neglecting it, you have lost the taste for it. Hence your talent in preaching does not increase. It is just the same as it was seven years ago. It is lively, but not deep; there is little variety; there is no compass of thought. Reading only can supply this, with meditation and daily prayer. You wrong yourself greatly by omitting this. You can never be a deep preacher without it, any more than a thorough Christian. Oh begin! Fix some part of every day for private exercise. You may acquire the taste which you have not; what is tedious at first will afterward be pleasant. Whether you like it or not, read and pray daily. It is for your life; there is no other way; else you will be a trifler all your days, and a pretty, superficial preacher. Do justice to your own soul; give it time and means to grow. Do not starve yourself any longer. Take up your cross and be a Christian altogether. Then will all the children of God rejoice (not grieve) over you, and in particular yours.”

John Wesley, writing to a younger minister, quoted in "Letters Along The Way".

Dang... I thought I was mature!

"Longing for the ideal while criticizing the real is evidence of immaturity. On the other hand, settling for the real without striving for the ideal is complacency. Maturity is living with the tension."

-Rick Warren

If this quote is true I am rarely complacent and rarely mature.

Trusted Friends

Trusting someone does not mean that we have thoroughly tested that person out and proved that they are trustworthy. Our trust is not based on proof but on a sense, or a instinct, or maybe a feeling. Trust comes from some experience of the other person. Most often trust grows in a relationship of mutual love. One in which we have loved and been loved by the other.

In my efforts to overcome lifelong struggles of insecurity, loneliness, and deep emotional wounding, I have been aided immeasurably by trusted and trusting friends who, with no ulterior motive, see something in me I can't see in myself. They don't just tell me, they relate to me in a way which shows me that I do have value, I do have something to offer, and that I am lovable.

Honesty with others and with ourselves is seldom found in the world or even in the church. To disclose dark secrets to another is risky business. People often sense that if I bare my soul, I will be abandoned by my friends and ridiculed by my enemies. It takes trust and true friendship to confess who you really are and what you are truly feeling and thinking.

But what means the most to me is if a word of correction is needed and the friend offers it directly. ACCOUNTABILITY. I need it! Big time! I admire a friend who has the courage to tell me something unpleasant but necessary - you know, something that others should tell me but don't. (I believe they don't for fear that I won't like them or that I will be angry with them. However they are doing me a huge disservice because they are more concerned with keeping me happy, or not hurting my feelings, than growing me spiritually. ) Just as I need trusted friends to reveal the positive attributes in my life that I don't see, I need them even more to reveal the negative attributes I don't see. It stings at first but when it comes from a trusted friend I know it's because they want whats best for me.

Proverbs 27:6 Wounds from a friend can be trusted, but an enemy multiplies kisses.