Something I struggle with in my faith walk is keeping friends in their proper place. By that I mean, making sure I don't raise my friends up to a higher expectation and higher priority in my life than God. Without a doubt, God is absolutely the most important thing in my life and my relationship with Jesus Christ is what I live for. However, it is really easy to get side-tracked or for my priorities to fall out of balance from time to time.
I was talking with a really close friend recently about how my love for my friends can be both my strength and weakness. It is both a gift from God that can be used to benefit others, but it can also turn into a stumbling block. God has blessed me with a huge heart for people. I love to invest deeply in people's lives to find out who they really are and to invest in them spiritually. I do believe God calls me to go above and beyond in my friendships to show people the love of Christ. However, at the same time, this same personality trait in myself can become a stumbling block. It can cause me to create high, unfair expectations of my friends to treat me the same in return and it can cause me to look for the approval and acceptance of my friends more than my Lord and Savior. So, my personality trait can act as both a strength and weakness in my life.
One thing I have learned over the last few years is that it is crucial to be aware of your weaknesses. Why? If you know your weaknesses, you know where Satan may try to strike the most and tempt you or take advantage of you. I strive every single day to keep my life in balance - to love the people enough to show them the love of Christ and how unconditional it is - but also to keep God as #1 in my life. I don't want to live for the approval of others, always reactive to each word or action they say or do. But I DO want to live for my Lord and Savior - the one who gave His life for me and shows me unconditional grace and love each day. I want to live for the AUDIENCE OF ONE!
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