Thinking About Friends
By Dan Fick
Choose your friends wisely and then be a good friend.
Proverbs 17:17 (NIV) “A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for a time of adversity.”
A friend is a blessing from God. Friends are here to support us, just like God is always here to support His children. As Christians, we often call our friends “Brother” or “Sister” as we are all part of God’s family. If as the authors of Proverbs suggest, a friend loves at all times, we must be careful to choose friends that are filled or can be filled with God’s love. Choose friends you wish were your brother or sister, and then they will be your brother and sister.
When we read and hear all of the birthday wishes from our friends, we remember how we laughed, liked, and loved them all. Hearing from friends that we have not heard from in a while triggers many fond memories. There are friends from high school and early college years when we learned that friends were more than just playmates. Our friends were the guys and girls on our teams, the smart kid who got us through chemistry, kids from summer camp, brothers and sisters from church youth groups, and our fraternity and sorority in college. We could spend hours walking through those memories and should probably find time each week to sit and reminisce about and maybe even with good old friends.
1 Samuel 20:42 (NIV) – “Jonathan said to David, ‘Go in peace, for we have sworn friendship with each other in the name of the Lord, saying, ‘The Lord is witness between you and me, and between your descendants and my descendants forever.’”
So how do we make and keep good friends? How do we establish a BFF – best friend forever? First, we need to choose our close friends wisely, looking at the character traits that will endear us to each other. Then, we need to remember that friendship is a two-way street where we learn to give and receive, share and share alike, and talk and listen. And, if the relationship appears headed for a close friendship, we need to invest our time, love and even money to cement that friendship with morning walks, coffee breaks, lunch dates, phone calls and text messages, hugs, and thoughtful, sometimes funny presents. We all would benefit from more close friends. If we all had more friends, this would be a better world.
Acts 13:38 (NIV) – “Therefore, my friends, I want you to know that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you.”
Look at the friends you have now, the ones who care about you, mentor you, share your joy, make you feel that you belong, give you someone to hang on to and hug, and that make you laugh so hard you cry. Here is the important part God keeps asking us about a few of my friends. Are they all going to be able to climb the Heavenly stairway to Paradise? God wants us to make sure they are not left behind. This is the most important way to be a friend. Jesus is our Friend, Lord, and Master, Good Shepard because He does not want us to be left behind in the wilderness. We need to act more like Jesus.
Gracious God, Our Heavenly Best Friend Forever, please help us to be good friends. Thank you for of all our friends. We pray for their well-being and salvation. Show us today, someone You want us to befriend. We pray for someone to reach out to us to be a friend. We pray this In Your Son’s precious name, Jesus, Amen!
What kind of friend are You!
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