Growing Healthy Friendships- Removing Expectations

Regardless of how long you have been friends, and no matter how much you have been through together, your friendships can never fully escape the disappointment.

Sometimes we enter into a friendship with, “what can this person do for me?” This is the default question of the human heart. But by God’s grace, we can remove those selfish expectations and ask, “How can I be used by God to love this friend?”

Relationships are often governed by a structure of law, offense and punishment. I have a set of rules you must abide by, I’m watching to make sure you follow these rules, and if you don’t, I feel justified in handing out some form of punishment.

How do you “punish” when friends don’t meet your expectations? But if we, by grace, begin to remove the selfish expectations we had at the beginning of our friendship, we are freed up to love and serve with humility, gentleness, and patience, even if we are being provoked (forbearance).

Keep changing. Keep growing!