Enjoy Life, Enjoy God
REFRESHING FRIENDSHIPS
December 5, 2011
There are different kind of acquaintances and friendships. Some are superficial, some are difficult and draining, and others fill your heart with joy and refreshment.
Pray that I may be kept safe from the unbelievers in Judea and that the contribution I take to Jerusalem may be favorably received by the Lord's people there, so that by God's will I may come to you with joy and together with you be refreshed.
--Romans 15:31,32 TNIV
Like us, Paul is a busy person, and he lives a complicated life. So as he closes his letter to the Romans, and shares his upcoming plans, he asks for prayer. An element in the prayer that can be overlooked is his desire for mutual refreshment. He wants to come to the Romans, and have his spirit renewed, to be restored, and he looks to them, not as a burden, but a hoped for re-charge.
He must have thought highly of the Romans, that such would be possible. What about us? Are we the sort of friend that refreshes others?
Joyfully,
Dale Patterson