The Forging of Firm Friendships

A very dear bro MSNed me just now to feedback to me about something that I had done a few days ago, that offended him. So I apologised... and he replied, "Ok :) Now satan can't do anything to hurt our [friendship]."

Wow. This is such a beautiful Godly attitude that this dear bro has.

Matthew 18:15
[Jesus said:]"If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over.

I love the servanthood attitude implicit in this verse. "...you have won your brother over."

And this bro was so sweet about it! If you see him in person, you won't naturally think of him as a "humble" person (by the world's definition) because of his outspokenness and perhaps brashness, but really, I find him a genuinely humble person who loves God and loves others. :) And I've seen nice guys who are anything but humble. :(

Who says that men are not as good as women, when it comes to building strong relationships? :) This is something that men can excel in and set an example for the women in church: the kind of courageous love that is willing to meet up and talk it over face-to-face, instead of evading and keeping it superficial to avoid conflict. I say this as a natural conflict-avoider.

It's natural to want to avoid conflicts, but frankly, the finest and strongest steel comes not from a one-time casting, but from repeated heating, hammering, tempering and forging, that surfaces all the intrinsic flaws and cracks in the steel and then hammers them out of the steel. So it is with authentic conflict-tempered comradeships that endure and triumph over the battlefields of the Christian faith. "As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another."