The Power of Loving Admonition

Today's Three-minute Bible Study
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Title: The Power of Loving Admonition!------------------------ Date: 11/12/1999
Keywords: "admonition" "friendship"

Welcome to eXXit, the web site designed to help you stand strong in the face of sexual temptation.

Passage: Colossians 1:28-29*

28. And we proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, that we may present every man complete in Christ.

29. And for this purpose also I labor, striving according to His power, which mightily works within me.

Questions

1. The apostle Paul longed for his friends, the Colossians, to be spiritually mature. Is there anyone in your life who has similar hopes for you?

 

2. Paul’s passion to see his friends reach maturity in Christ led him to speak to them, at times, by way of admonition. Do you have any friends who deal with you at that level?

 

Practical help

Of all the means of receiving feedback from others, few of us would say that we most enjoy being “admonished.” Yet Scripture is clear that admonition is an essential ingredient of healthy relationships. If we stray from obedience, we need friends who will lovingly admonish us, as Paul lovingly admonished the Colossians. So.........

Let’s say you’re trying to break the porn habit. If any of your Christian friends knew of your struggle, they would probably be willing to do two things:

  1. Love and accept you and pray for you;
  2. Admonish you to stay away from smut!

Are you willing to let them be an apostle Paul in your life? Opening up with a friend or two and telling them of your struggle may make you feel like you are exposing yourself to risk, but you have already proven the risk in NOT opening up to friends - a continuing struggle with pornography! Take advantage of the power of Christian friendship by requesting love and admonition from a trusted brother (or sister, if you are a woman).

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Copyright 1999 by eXXit
*"Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, © Copyright The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995. Used by permission."