Friendship—Week 3

​Hello Reign Forest Friends,

Key Question: When a friend hurts you, how do you respond? When kids are teenagers, it doesn’t take long for best friends to become worst enemies. We hope to guide them through figuring out strategies for how they can respond when they get hurt by a friend. It’s inevitable that friends will get into an argument, but when kids are equipped with how to respond, forgiveness might be an easier option for building bridges in the broken relationship.
In Colossians 3:13, Paul writes Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others.  (NLT). Towards the end of the book of John we see through Jesus and Peter. After denying Jesus three times, Peter was feeling guilty and ashamed. But Jesus still had plans for Peter. Jesus forgave Peter and restored the broken friendship. And when we put our faith in Jesus, Jesus offers that same forgiveness to us. In turn, we can offer forgiveness to others.
Bottom Line: Friends forgive one another. While it’s true that people will do things that hurt us, we need to be willing to let it go and forgive because God forgave us first.
Memory Verse: Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others. Colossians 3:13 NLT
Blessings,
The Reign Forest Team