A Little Too Friendly
Did you ever know anybody who was just a little too friendly? You know what I’m talking about: they just tried too hard to be your friend. In fact, they tried so hard to be your friend that they ended up annoying you instead of making you like them.
Proverbs 27:14 describes a situation like this and helps us learn a very useful character trait. It says, “He that blesseth his friend with a loud voice, rising early in the morning, it shall be counted a curse to him.” Here we have a guy who is trying to do a good thing for his friend. He is blessing him, or saying good things about him, or trying to do good things for him. The only problem is that he is doing all this great stuff early in the morning.
Can you imagine this scenario? It’s four o’clock in the morning, and Mr. Too Friendly is in front of his friend’s house. He’s beating on the front door and yelling, “Hey, are you in there? C’mon out and let’s do something together! I love hanging out with you! You are the best friend in the whole world! Nobody is a better friend than you! Get up, and let’s go to the mall together or something!”
As nice as those things are for him to say, it just isn’t nice to say them at four o’clock in the morning! This guy may be friendly, but he’s not thoughtful. He is not thinking of the other person and so he’s actually being unfriendly.
Part of growing up and becoming more mature is becoming more aware of other people. It’s learning to view things from the perspective of others. Little kids don’t even realize that other people exist. They may be scrambling to get some candy or toy and they may just step on somebody else to get it. Unfortunately, teens are often very self-focused. We need to learn to be thoughtful of others so that when we try to do something good, it won’t end up being bad.
Proverbs 27:14 describes a situation like this and helps us learn a very useful character trait. It says, “He that blesseth his friend with a loud voice, rising early in the morning, it shall be counted a curse to him.” Here we have a guy who is trying to do a good thing for his friend. He is blessing him, or saying good things about him, or trying to do good things for him. The only problem is that he is doing all this great stuff early in the morning.
Can you imagine this scenario? It’s four o’clock in the morning, and Mr. Too Friendly is in front of his friend’s house. He’s beating on the front door and yelling, “Hey, are you in there? C’mon out and let’s do something together! I love hanging out with you! You are the best friend in the whole world! Nobody is a better friend than you! Get up, and let’s go to the mall together or something!”
As nice as those things are for him to say, it just isn’t nice to say them at four o’clock in the morning! This guy may be friendly, but he’s not thoughtful. He is not thinking of the other person and so he’s actually being unfriendly.
Part of growing up and becoming more mature is becoming more aware of other people. It’s learning to view things from the perspective of others. Little kids don’t even realize that other people exist. They may be scrambling to get some candy or toy and they may just step on somebody else to get it. Unfortunately, teens are often very self-focused. We need to learn to be thoughtful of others so that when we try to do something good, it won’t end up being bad.
posted by Mark Perry at 7:18 PM
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