by Olivia Telano | Jun 15, 2021 | Life Advice, Sisterhood
Lord of Lords. Wonderful Counselor. Everlasting Father. Prince of Peace. King of Kings.
Friend.
Jesus is so many wonderful things. He is perfect in every way. He’s mighty and powerful and He knows us better than anyone else could. Sometimes I find myself getting caught up in just how mighty He is that I can forget that He is also my friend. He cares about the details in my life. He cares about my worries, my dreams, and rejoices with me in my successes. He wants to hear about our days. He hurts with us. He takes pleasure in life’s special little moments with us. He is always there when we call and never fails to listen. Jesus is a lot of amazing things and He is also the greatest example of a true friend.
I think we can all agree that it is so important to find good friends. Good friends make life sweet and truly are a gift. I know it sounds cliché, but we really weren’t meant to do it on our own. We have to remember though, while we’re on the search for good friends, we must also make sure we are a good friend as well. Are we being a friend we would like to find? It is crucial for us to truly take time to step back and ask ourselves how can I be the best friend to people that I can be? Who better to look to than Jesus to learn how?
Okay friends, let’s dive in and see what scripture tells us about how to be a good sister and friend so we can be as much of a friend like Jesus as possible.
- Speak the Truth – “Better is open rebuke than hidden love. Wounds from a friend can be trusted, but an enemy multiplies kisses.” (Proverbs 27:5-6)
Okay, this can be a hard one sometimes. Especially for my people pleasers out there. It’s easy to want to constantly support and “hype up” friends in everything they do. In fact, it may even make you feel like you’re doing something right because people love to be told what they are doing is amazing. As friends, we should be conscious of the boundary between encouragement and accountability. The Bible even takes it as far to say enemies are the ones who multiply kisses. We need to get over the fear of telling a friend the truth, even if it’s not what they want to hear. Calling out a friend for sin is true love. Helping our friends live a holy life is so important and is a great measure of friendship. Open rebuke means to help point out a friend’s sin personally and directly. We just need to make sure we are approaching the situation out of love and not judgment.
- Take Time to Listen – “My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this : Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry.” (James 1:19)
One of the most valuable things we have in life is our time. It’s one of the only things we can never get back. We can buy all the gifts, give all the compliments, and encourage friends all we want, but the way to make a person feel truly loved and heard is to take time to listen. Sometimes that’s all someone needs. Everybody wants to feel heard. We as Christians are called to be quick to listen and slow to speak. Listening is more than just hearing. Listening is defined as giving attention to. Let’s remember how valuable it is to sit and give our full attention to someone who needs it. It is a great way to show love to anyone and everyone.
- Forgive Freely – “Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.” (Ephesians 4:32)
It is plain to see the world is easily offended and not very forgiving at all. Bitterness is everywhere. That is why we have to be careful to not fall into the pattern of this world to write off someone as soon as they make a mistake. You can not be a good friend to someone that you are holding on to bitterness towards. We must remember how God forgives us seventy times seven and how freely He forgives us. Nobody is perfect and it’s human to make mistakes so we must show grace to the ones who hurt us. It is a lot easier said than done, but we need to remember God’s undeserved grace He freely gives us.
- Encourage One Another – “And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in habit of doing, but encourage one another – and all the more as you see the Day approaching.” (Hebrews 10:24-25)
Encouragement can do so much good. It can help someone find hope, lead them to success, push them to keep going, and can simply brighten a day. Encouragement is powerful. The truth is, you never know what a person could be going through and how far one simple text or compliment could go.
- Love Unconditionally – “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. (John 15:12-15)
This is the good news friends. Jesus loves us so much that He laid down His life. The ultimate gift to us. God loves us with calling love. It is a commandment right from the lips of our Savior. Our love to others should reflect and direct toward Jesus’s love for us. God loves us because it’s who He is, not who we are. We don’t earn His love through our deeds or what we can do for Him. We must strive to love others like that. It doesn’t matter what they’ve done or who they are. It doesn’t matter what they can do for us. We must freely give our love. We must be a friend to all. Thank you Jesus for showing us how to be a friend to others by being the best friend this world has ever known.
Olivia is a member of Team LO and is a marketing major at Louisiana Tech University. She loves coffee dates, going on long walks, and her dogs, Max and Sophie.
Follow Olivia on Instagram @olivia_kate1
by Olivia Telano | Jan 19, 2021 | College, End Times, Life Advice, Sisterhood
com·pas·sion
/kəmˈpaSHən/
noun
•sympathetic pity and concern for the sufferings or misfortunes of others. // to recognize the suffering of others and then take action to help
The origin of the word compassion helps us to truly understand and grasp the meaning and significance. In Latin, ‘compati’ means “to suffer with.” Compassion means to take on someone else’s suffering with them. Real compassion should change how we live. I recently heard a preacher say compassion fuels evangelism, and wow oh wow, that was so eye opening to me.
But first, let’s talk about eternity..
Eternity. One of the most powerful, beautiful, and to some, scariest words ever. So much depth behind it. I mean forever and ever and ever. It is quite literally impossible for us to understand or comprehend.
Ever since I was little, the concept of eternity had always scared me. I would avoid at all cost thinking about what eternity really was. I felt like I was completely alone in being afraid of eternity. I knew that forever with Jesus was a good thing, but I just never really understood why nobody else was scared of forever like I was. It was a constant internal battle I faced every day. One day, I just decided I was tired of being afraid. I decided to give all my anxious feelings and thoughts to God. I figured that was a way to ultimately trust that God had everything under control, even if I couldn’t understand it.
The truth is, we are not meant to understand. Knowing my flesh wasn’t capable of comprehending the magnitude of eternity gave me a glimpse of how powerful God is, and helped me realize that there is so much more to this life we live. It gave me perspective. Everything we see right now is temporary. Your phone, your house, your clothes, the trees, and your body won’t last. The things you can’t see are eternal. The apostle Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13:12, “What we see now is like a dim image in a mirror; then we shall see face-to-face.” Let’s keep our mind on what’s unseen.
When thinking about eternity, we should acknowledge how important what we do on this side of eternity really is. We are called to be a light in the darkness of this world, to make a difference in people around us, and to spread the Good News of Jesus. If people are going to be somewhere for eternity, it is so important for that place to be Heaven.
Is anyone going to be in Heaven because of you?
“The most important thing is that I complete my mission, the work that the Lord Jesus gave me -to tell people the Good News about God’s grace” (Acts 20:24).
To do that, to live on mission, we need to be a people of compassion.
It is our own human nature to constantly think about ourselves. To only consider what’s best for us. We tend to do what’s easiest and most comfortable. What a shame it would be to live our life consumed by our own desires. What a shame it would be to stay comfortable. We are called to be bold. We must remember that we are called to live a life of compassion.
For me, I truly learned what that meant during quarantine. You know it’s about to get real when someone brings up what they learned in quarantine. Lol! In the quietness and stillness of quarantine, I had a lot of time to think, and naturally this brought me to a new internal battle. As crazy as it sounds, it was then that I began to truly realize how sad it was that people were actually going to go to Hell and be separated from Jesus. Like forever. I always knew it, but I never really stopped to think about what it meant. The people in my classes, my friends who don’t know the Lord, people I come in contact with every day, probably are not all going to be in eternal Glory. This really shook me for the first time.
I remember one night, I had a dream. In the dream I could see the people around me falling short and me knowing they would not make it to Heaven, while all the believers around me continued to go on with life and failed to notice. I remember telling myself, “how are these people not going crazy knowing what’s coming for all these lost people?”
It was so real. I felt a real burden for the lost.
I thought about Paul and his intense burden he felt for his fellow countrymen. In Romans 9, Paul even expressed that his burden was so great that he would take the place of the lost if he could. Wow. Now that is compassion. The pit in my stomach caused by my thoughts over the lost lasted for weeks. It felt like I was feeling the pain of the world. While turning on the TV, getting on my phone, listening to today’s top hits on Spotify, it became clear that the world around us is filled with evil. It just simply made me sorrowful. One night while I was reading, I thought, “If I’m feeling this way, imagine how God feels… I am only thinking about the people around me while He has all the people ever created to worry about.” It comforted me that I was not feeling that burden alone. Then it hit me. Maybe God is letting me realize the depth of eternity and letting me feel all that pain for the lost for a reason.
Maybe God was letting me hurt with Him.
The truth is, without that suffering, I may not have ever realized the true importance of sharing Jesus with others.
I see now that everything I have felt, all the confusion and pain had purpose behind it. There was purpose in the pain I felt. Because God cares, we must care. Thank you, Jesus, for opening my eyes.
As believers, we should be the city on the hill (Matthew 5:14). We need to spread the peace and love of Jesus Christ. It is still sometimes hard to not be overcome with sorrow for the fallen world around us, but we can have peace knowing that our hope is found in the Lord Jesus Christ as the way, truth, and life (John 14:6).
“For his anger endureth but a moment; in his favor is life: weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.” … “But unto thee have I cried, O LORD; and in the morning shall my prayer prevent thee.” (Psalm 30:5…Psalm 88:13)
Olivia is a member of Team LO and is a marketing major at Louisiana Tech University. She loves coffee dates, going on long walks, and her dogs, Max and Sophie.
Follow Olivia on Instagram @olivia_kate1
