Living out the Christian life is more about relationships than it is about spiritual performance. Yes, it is important to learn and apply the Scripture and to have a continual prayer life. But living out who you are in Christ to the world has to do with relationships. Quoting chapter and verse means very little if that knowledge is not reflected in your ability to relate to your culture.Secondly, in the end, truth is always the best way to go. Truth is pure, peaceful and liberating. Ever tried to hide the truth about a matter, and then later you were able to come clean? Wow what a great feeling to get that off your chest.

Being a person of integrity and being able to tell your friend the truth, even though they may get temporarily angry, is always the right thing to do. They will come around and thank you in the end.

Point: Integrity is a spiritual virtue and reflective of our new nature in Christ. Walking in integrity is a mark of your heavenly citizenship.

If you think about it, being a good friend is being like Jesus. Jesus is a good listener; He listens to our complaining, our whining and our crying out to Him. We come to Him because we know He loves us regardless of what we have done or regardless of how bad we have messed up. He is empathetic but He always tells us the truth.

I have heard for years that every person influences at least five people at any given moment. If that is true, wouldn’t you like for your five people to consider you a friend who is a good listener, who is empathetic and will always tell them the truth?

“Friends love through all kind of weather…” Proverbs 17:17 (The Message)