what real friends do . . . 3rd week tuesday

Today in our first reading Paul writes to his friend and co-worker in the vineyard of the Lord. Life would be doubly difficult if we walk alone.  It is important to have friends, real friends.   How do we know we have real friends? 

Real friends seek always your good.  Paul writes "I remember you constantly in my prayers, night and day and I yearn to see you again."  You seek their good if you pray for them constantly.  When was the last time you prayed for your friend, asking God to guide him, to bless him, to help him and his family?  When was the last time you asked prayers from your friend?  Please pray for me.  Real friends pray for each other because they seek your good.

Real friends seek always your good.  They know the people you love and the people you care for.  Paul writes, "I recall your sincere faith that first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and that I am confident lives also in you."  Real friendship takes on the bigger concerns of your life.  Friendship is not just you and me because real friends think of your good, and your good involves a far greater concern than just your person.  So a real friend is concerned about them too.

Real friends always seek your good.  They can be real to you.  They can remind you for example.  Paul writes, "I remind you to stir into flame the gift of God that you have."  They can encourage you in the same way that Paul writes, "For God did not give us a spirit of cowardice but rather of power and love and self-control."  When was the last time you told a friend that he should not be afraid, that he has the power, that he can control himself and become the best that he could become?  When was the last time your reminded a friend about the good in him?

Real friends seek your good.  They will not lie to you.  They will tell you the truth without sugar coating it.  Paul is a real friend to Timothy when he wrote him saying, "do not be ashamed of your testimony to our Lord, but bear your share of hardship for the Gospel with the strength that comes from God."  It is difficult, you could be timid at times, but you have the strength that comes from God, so bear with it.  Can you say the same to a friend?

A real friend can say these things because he is real and he seeks you own good and he is not a fake.