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Are We Fooling Ourselves?

Posted on September 16, 2011

At a recent Men Who Win Advance, I personally witnessed what Rick is talking about in the Daily Hope email below. Men came together, sang together, prayed for each other and were open and honest with each other. Also we talked about building better marriages.

As Men Who Win, we are fooling ourselves if we say we have no sin when in reality, we lie a little here and there: when we look at porn online, or flirt with a woman at work when we have a loving faithful wife at home, or steal time or money from our employers. 
 
Read the piece below and ask yourself where you are on some authentic friendships with two or three close friends. Ask yourself if you are confessing your sins each other and praying for each other. If you are already doing that, I'd say you are one of the Men Who Win.
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Authentic Friendships
by Rick Warren

But if we live in the light, as God is in the light, we can share fellowship with each other. Then the blood of Jesus, God's Son, cleanses us from every sin. If we say we have no sin, we are fooling ourselves, and the truth is not in us. (1 John 1:7-8 NCV)
“In Christian fellowship people should experience authenticity.
Authentic fellowship is not superficial, surface-level chit-chat. It’s genuine, heart-to-heart, sometimes gut-level, sharing.
It happens when people get honest about who they are and what is happening in their lives. They share their hurts, reveal their feelings, confess their failures, disclose their doubts, admit their fears, acknowledge their weaknesses, and ask for help and prayer.


Authenticity is the exact opposite of what you find in many churches. Instead of an atmosphere of honesty and humility, there is pretending, role-playing, politicking and superficial politeness, but shallow conversation.
People wear masks, keep their guards up, and act as if everything is rosy in their lives. These attitudes are the death of real friendship.
It’s only as we become open about our lives that we experience authentic fellowship. The Bible says, “If we live in the light, as God is in the light, we can share fellowship with each other.… If we say we have no sin, we are fooling ourselves” (1 John 1:7–8, NCV).


The world thinks intimacy occurs in the dark, but God says it happens in the light. We tend to use darkness to hide our hurts, faults, fears, failures and flaws. But in the light, we bring them all out into the open and admit who we really are.
Of course, being authentic requires both courage and humility. It means facing our fear of exposure, rejection and being hurt again.
Why would anyone take such a risk?


Because it’s the only way to grow spiritually and be emotionally healthy. The Bible says, “Make this your common practice: Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you can live together whole and healed” ( James 5:16a, Msg).”

Iron Sharpens Iron Ministry 
Clay Campbell - Vice Chairman - Men Who Win 
info@menwhowin.com
www.menwhowin.com


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