We were created for connection, so we all feel a longing for relationships. In a church, there are lots of opportunities to get to know others, but if we don’t understand the difference between friendship and fellowship, we can miss out on what God wants to do in our lives. Consider what happens when we don’t get this right.
Friendships can either make learning attractive or they can derail a child’s motivation altogether. Friendships are where a child learns how to relate to others and works at practicing patience, forgiveness, kindness, and compassion. Most parents talk to their kids about grades. I’m convinced we need to talk to them at least as much about relationships. Here are four conversations I think parents and children need to have.
Are you spending more time with cyber friends than neighbourhood friends? Are you focused more on quantity of friendships than quality? Are you listening to the kind of voices that are fuelling your anger? Or have you let charm and beauty take the priority that character and God’s grace were intended to have in your thinking? Let the Bible’s ancient wisdom guard your interaction with social media today.
Great marriages take work. And with the challenges to marriage and faithfulness in our society today, that work is probably more needed than ever.