Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

THE CURRENT - Leading the Following Way

Home
Evangelical
Elephant-Hunting in 2013.

Elephant-Hunting in 2013.

Last updated on: March 13, 2015 at 11:24 pm by Robert C. Crosby

Elephant-Hunting in 2013. 2015-03-13T23:24:19-04:00 Robert C. Crosby

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

When an elephant is in the room, hunt him down … but be careful and be prayerful.

We have all experienced those times in discussions with our friends over coffee or over the phone where the “elephant” shows up … haven’t we? Or it may be right in the middle of a staff or team meeting at work or at church, when all of a sudden there he is – that crazy “elephant.” He’s baaaack!

The “elephants” in the room are the issues of truth that arise in and around our lives and relationships that we tend to avoid. Of course, the main reason we avoid them is to simply avoid potential conflict. “Elephants” can show up just about anywhere or anytime, and they eventually show up in every friendship or relationship. You can count on it.

“Elephants” show up when …

…people disagree with us.

…we disagree with them.

…a “friend” cuts us off mid-sentence over and over again.

…a friend close makes a promise they don’t keep (for the first time or hundredth).

“Elephants” show up among friends and families, at home and at work. They put our friendships to the test. However, most people choose to simply ignore the “elephants.” But, ignoring them doesn’t make them go away. In fact, “elephants” love nothing more than to be ignored. Ignore them and hey just get bigger and bigger eventually squeezing the oxygen right out of the friendship.

“Elephants” will undermine (if not kill) growing friendships, if we let them. Allowing “elephants” to roam freely keeps friendships from getting to the next level. We’ll talk more tomorrow about how to hunt them down. For now, an important key to effective friendships is remembering the two things that Jesus was filled with in his earthly life and his friendships – “grace” and “truth.” It is clear that he balanced his relationships with both of these ingredients.

“For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” (John 1:17)

Jesus gave people grace. In other words, he was loving and compassionate, always considering the needs and interests of those around him. He was quick to forgive and slow to anger, and consistently so.

Jesus also told people the truth. But his truth-telling was never a condemning exercise but an expression of his sincere love (John 10:10).

‘Run into any “elephants” lately?

hen an elephant is in the room, hunt him down … but be careful and be prayerful.

“Elephants” show up when …

…people disagree with us.

…we disagree with them.

…a “friend” cuts us off mid-sentence over and over again.

…a friend close makes a promise they don’t keep (for the first time or hundredth).

“For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” (John 1:17)

Jesus also told people the truth. But his truth-telling was never a condemning exercise but an expression of his sincere love (John 10:10).

‘Run into any “elephants” lately?

“A truly good friend will openly correct you.

You can trust a friend who corrects you,

but kisses from an enemy are nothing but lies.”

Proverbs 27:5-6 CEV

“Even the best of friends face conflicts,

but that needn’t mean the end of the relationship.”

Reader’s Digest

Previous Post

December 12, 2012

It Can Shut You Down ... If You Let It.

Next Post

January 31, 2013 My Favorite Dorothy Sayers Quote.

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Abandonment Addictions America Atheism Beautiful Orthodoxy Beauty Belief Bible Bible study Boomers Busters Change Charismatic Christ Church Collaboration Color Communication Community Compassion Conflict Conscience Couples Creation Creative Creativity Cross Culture Dancing Democrat Design Discipleship Discouragement Dreams Ecclesiology Economy Ecumenism Education Election Emotions Encouragement Ethics Evangelism Exodus Faith Fellowship Following Food Friendship Generations Giving God Good Gospel Grace Heresy Hermeneutics Heroes Holiness Holy Spirit Homosexuality Honor Hope Humility Husband Identity Innovation Intimacy Introverts Jesus JFK John F. Kennedy Journey joy Judgment Knowing God leadership Lifeword Love Marriage Materialism Millennials Ministry Moses multi-cultural Mystery Obedience Organization Outreach Parenting Pentecostal Pentecostalism Personality Pneumatology Politics Power Prayer Preaching Presidents Pride Promises Prosperity Prosperity Gospel Relationship Religion Remembrance Repentance Republican Revelation Revival Salvation Self Servanthood Sin Soul Spirit Suffering Teaming Teams Technology Trinity Trust Truth Uncategorized Values Video Games Violence Vision Voting Wife Work Worship Young Men

Select a Month August 2015 July 2015 February 2015 April 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 February 2012 January 2012 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz