Invite Others In

Proverbs says that the sweetness, the richness of a friendship comes from wise, sincere counsel that will gladden and help the person who receives it. A core worth of a friendship comes with ones ability to speak Godly help into any situation. This is the crown jewel of a friend. A friend who loves with grace and truth. A friend who sticks closer than a brother. Who is faithful to encourage when needed, wound when needed, and heal and restore with a Spirit of gentleness, when needed.

To be that type of friend is something worth seeking after. It can be a good desire to seek to have wise counsel that could bless and encourage your friends. And, If I had to guess, I imagine we think a lot more often about being a friend that has wise counsel, rather than seeking a friend to give us wise counsel.

We are eager to help, but reluctant to admit that we need help. We can be much more excited to give words of advice, than to receive them. And in this imbalance, pride is permeating our souls and causing us to gravitate toward giving counsel, and resistant to receiving it.

A good question to ask yourself is:

“When was the last time I invited Christian counsel into a big decision I was pondering?”

Do you ask for counsel on things like where you might move to, and how much you might spend? Or about your job and if you you should move to another state to take a job because it pays more? Or about whether you should date someone or not?

The closer something is to our heart, the greater the temptation is to keep it close to our chest. To guard it from any opinions or advice that might challenge it. We can do this by literally hiding the decision, until it is too late to change. Or we dress it up in a pretty package with lots of Christian words. Words like “the Lord just gave me peace about this”, or, “I felt led by the Lord to do this”.

But to put a microscope on the heart of the issue, here is the big question:

Do you see the counsel of others as a threat to your control and independence, or as a help and safeguard for your heart? A heart that scripture describes as “deceitful above all things, and desperately sick”?

In our pride (which is deeply crippling to us), we care less about counsel helping to save us from sin or foolishness, and are more worried that counsel will ruin our plans.

One of the gifts God church is the Godly counsel of fellow believers.

So let others in. Invite others into to your struggles, so that they may have the opportunity to encourage, challenge, or comfort you with the grace of Jesus Christ. And Invite others into your decisions, knowing they are seeking your good and are a safeguard for your heart that is prone to wander.

To ask others for counsel is not only a mark of humility, but also a mark of maturity. Wise Christians see their need for others, and don’t view themselves too highly. They know they have weaknesses, and blindspots, and are open to critique, so that they may walk more wisely, and love the Lord more deeply.

So church, let others in and make it a regular rhythm of your life to ask your brothers and sisters in Christ: “What do you think?”