It is more shameful to distrust our friends than to be deceived by them. –Confucius
As I prepare a talk about the value of same-sex friendships for men and women, I have found myself pondering the destructive power of suspicion and betrayal. I think these things destroy whether you are on the receiving end of it or if you are the one harboring it in your soul. I cannot find a scriptural description of love (or any other fruit of the Spirit for that matter) that allows me to close my heart to another–no matter their behavior.
Scripture records that “Jesus entrusted himself to no man” in John 2. However, he did. Although he knew the heart of man, he surrounded himself with disciples who would both deny him and betray him.
I’m challenged today by this wise quote from Confucious above. I’m asking God for a fresh empowering of His Spirit to open my heart in new ways again. Sometimes I do this pretty well, but I’m more than a little convicted by my own preparation for my talk.
In the context of suffering 1 Peter 4:
7 The end of all things is near; therefore, be of sound judgment and sober spirit for the purpose of prayer. 8 Above all, keep fervent in your love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins. 9 Be hospitable to one another without complaint. 10 As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. 11 Whoever speaks, is to do so as one who is speaking the utterances of God; whoever serves is to do so as one who is serving by the strength which God supplies; so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belongs the glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.
Laura Leigh Chats 
That was AWESOME, Laura!!! 🙌🏼🙌🏼🙌🏼❤️ Thankyou!
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The most vulnerable place on earth is in loving another, opening up the heart and allowing an open connection to the heart of another person in which “the heart is deceitfully wicked above all things”. Just as the vulnerable as Jesus on a cross naked and vulnerable to his own betrayers. Brings to mind the scripture “we are hidden in Christ in God”, only in the Love of Jesus can we be wounded and echo within our souls can we see though our own pain “father forgive them for they know not what they do” this is the same fellowship of His suffering in this life hidden in Christ in God.
Can we love fully and be so protected fully?
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I had not seen that you found my little blog and commented. Thanks for stopping by. I do see that vulnerability of love.
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