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by Jim Hughes

Prov. 18:19 It is harder to make amends with an offended friend than to capture a fortified city.

Maybe you can identify with this truth. I know I can. It’s hard to get over the hurdle of hurt feelings. It’s hard to restore a friendship when you feel a trust has been broken or your integrity has been questioned. It is hard to move forward in a relationship that has been harmed by a divisive spirit.

It is important that we do all that we can do to avoid those things that would divide us. It is imperative that we seek to find a peaceful and acceptable resolution for our differences. We can’t let nature take its course and hope for the best. We must first pray and ask the Lord for His help.

We need to search out our own hearts and ask the Lord to help us understand and accept our role in the disagreement. We need to ask the Lord to mellow our hearts and look upon others thought the lens of Christ’s love. We need to seek reconciliation to the best of our ability. And then if reconciliation doesn’t happen, we need to ask the Lord to help us move forward with grace and love. We need the Lord’s help to guard our tongue so we don’t speak in a degrading way about another. We need to ask the Lord to help us to not let emotional poison creep into our hearts. And, we need to ask the Lord to hold us accountable for our role in that which has created a rift between us. Where we have sinned we must humble ourselves and ask the Lord to forgive us and then seek forgiveness from our friend whom we have offended.

Life is too short to let sin ruin a good friendship. Is there a friendship that needs restored in your life? Do you need to talk to the Lord about it? Is there anything you have to ask Him for forgiveness for? Is there anything you need to reach out to your lost friend and apologize for? You may not be able to restore the friendship, but as far as it is possible for you to do, you must do your part and try if you want to live in peace with God and yourself.

About the Author:

Spending his formative years in Ft. Wayne, IN, Jim followed the love of his life to southeast Iowa where they married and have spent the majority of their lives. Jim has pastored several churches throughout his life and has worked many years in local factories to help support his family. The father of two married adult children and one son still at home, Jim is a first-time author.

C Through Marriage came into being through many years of pastoral and life experiences. The book first took on a life of its own over 20 years ago when I sought to address the much publicized moral failures of prominent leaders in the church. In the chapter on Chasity, I include the guideliness that I developed then to protect one’s self from such failures.

I am a firm believer in order to make sense out of life you have to use much common sense. We need to get back to the basics of what has worked for many, many generations. If is isn’t broke, why try to fix it? I strive to return to the basics of what really works in all my writings.

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