Removing the Masks

About eighty percent of our life’s success comes from interacting with others. Whether we are plumbers, doctors, homemakers, students, or the President of the United States, we will work with others all our lives. We can learn to form friendships that will help us grow and spiritually support us. Not everyone we meet will become a friend, but those who do will profoundly affect us. Much more than any of us realize.

         A friend attaches himself to another by affection or with feelings of appreciation and respect for another. Genuine friendships take time to develop. All relationships start as acquaintances, and then we gradually learn more about one another. Some will grow into deep, intimate friendships, while most will not. We will have many choices after we meet new acquaintances. These choices can strongly influence the course of our lives. The Bible is a complete guide or a how-to manual for building relationships. God gave it to us to understand how to relate to one another and to Him. The stories in the Old and New Testaments teach us how others associated under different circumstances and show us their success or failure. …