321 Insights: How to Choose and Make Friends

In this post, discover what the Bible says about friendship, faith, not being troubled in today’s dangerous world, and being your brother’s keeper.

Photo by Helena Lopes on Pexels.com

Welcome to our weekly 321 Insights newsletter where every Thursday, I share 3 blogs, 2 lessons, and 1 Biblical question!

3 Blogs:

  1. Why you should NOT stop attending church (and how to make it a habit)
  2. Curious about my Christian background? Read my fundamental and core beliefs.
  3. How to make friends according to the wisest king of Israel

2 Lessons

Lesson no. 1: The disease called “I can’t”

The time has come for us to address the “I can’t” disease.

It has crippled us for too long.

Enough is enough.

This disease has fatally attacked a lot of areas in our lives.

  • Relationship: “I can’t forgive.”
  • Self-control: “I can’t resist the urge of gambling, smoking, drinking, and other vices.”
  • Career: “I can’t finish this project.”
  • Education: “I can’t understand this math lesson.”
  • Faith: “I can’t trust God.”

I can’t is just a state of mind, but it has always destroyed our greatest potential to be a child and servant of God.

It’s time to turn your “I can’t” to “God can.”

It’s time to leave behind this mentality, and let God strengthen, enable, and help you!

Always remember Philippians 4:13:

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”

(I learned this lesson from the inspiring book of Max Lucado, “Glory Days.”)

Lesson no. 2: Let not your heart be troubled

We are living in a troubled time, but it doesn’t mean that your heart should be troubled together with the world.

Yes, we are seeing a lot of bad news around us:

  • The pandemic.
  • Political leaders lying to us.
  • Hurricanes raging.
  • Earthquakes shaking.
  • Unemployment soaring high.
  • Poverty striking more and more people.
  • The prospect of not knowing the future.
  • Nations at war with each other.
  • Crimes in our neighborhood.
  • Riots, chaos, and mess all around us.
  • Religious deception.

… And the list just goes on and on.

Our Master and Savior, thousands of years ago, has talked about this in Matthew 24:4-6:

And Jesus answered and said to them: “Take heed that no one deceives you. 5 For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many. 6 And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.

Christ has acknowledged the worst is yet to come.

However, at the same time, He instructed us that we should NOT be troubled.

But why?

Because all these things must come to pass.

Thankfully, for us, who have chosen to follow Him no matter what, He has promised us in John 14:1-3:

Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. 2 In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.”

That’s the main reason that we shouldn’t be troubled because Yahshua or Jesus Christ has already proclaimed a happy ending for all of us.

The world will not end the way a lot of false prophets and fortune tellers predicted.

The age of man’s rule will end and Yahshua will usher in the Kingdom of God here on earth!

That’s the time when Christ will come again and receive His own.

When He comes, the reward of the righteous is with Him.

So, don’t be troubled.

Keep your vision clear and fixed to the Kingdom of God.

When you do, no matter what happens now, you can always count on the fact that everything will have a happy ending!

(Are you curious about how the world will look like when Yahshua (Jesus) will finally establish God’s rule here on earth? If yes, read “8 Little-Known Descriptions of the Future Kingdom of God.”)

1 Bible Question:

After killing Abel, God asked Cain:

“Where is Abel your brother?”

Cain then replied:

“I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper” (Genesis 4:9)?

While Cain was being sarcastic and callous in his answer to the Most High, we must also ask ourselves:

“Are we our brother’s keeper?”

In a world full of “self,” it is not difficult to forget our duty to our fellow man.

If you are too busy about yourself and not taking the time to take care of others, then you are not being a brother’s keeper.

You need to realize that as Christians, we must “look out not only for [our] own interests, but also for the interests of others” (Philippians 2:4).

When your brother or sister is in trouble, are you there to give a helping hand?

I hope the answer is yes because as Christians, that’s what is expected of us.

We are not called to be passive, but active followers of God.

Final words

Thank you so much for your continued support. I pray that you have learned a lot from our week’s 321 Insights.

By the way, I’m excited to let you know that my latest book, “How to Live a Victorious Life” is not available on Amazon Kindle. Click here to learn more.

Finally, for my Filipino audience, I have recently started a Filipino blog section on my website. Most of the content is videos as well as blogs. So, check it out!

That’s it for me!

Please take care always and let our Heavenly Father reveal His will in your life.

Until next time,

Joshua

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