How to Make Friends and Influence People

^{Proverbs 22:}

¹¹ He who loves purity of heart And whose speech is gracious, the king is his friend.

I am the world’s most awkward person when it comes to making friends.  I’m friendly.  I hope; if I haven’t been let me know.  But I’ve never been an “I’ve got to have 100 friends” kind of guy.  Socially awkward around new people: Check.  It's not something that I really enjoy about my personality, so a while back I read the book “How to Make Friends and Influence People."  Honest answer: it really weirded me out.  To me, it was more of a manual on how to manipulate people to do what you want them to do.  Maybe I need to go back and read it again so that the kids will keep their rooms clean.  Kidding. Mostly.

 
God has a “How to Make Friends” method, and as well as I can remember, it’s a pretty far sight from Mr. Carnegie’s method.  It goes something like this: Strive to have a pure heart, and honor those that also strive to have pure hearts.  Love them.  Speak kind, courteous, and pleasant words.  That’s it.  No coming up with insightful questions.  No manipulation.  Be like a child of God.  I think if we can nail down those points, people would be drawn to us.  Not drawn by our intelligence, humor, looks, or any of that, but drawn to those God qualities and habits they see lived out in us.  God’s word even says the king would be our friend.  Go out and make some new friends today.