Friendships

Proverbs 17:17

A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.

When I think about life and the challenges it brings, it makes me grateful for the resources that God has given to me, and to you also, to navigate those challenges. For example, God has given us His Spirit, the Holy Spirit to guide and comfort us. He has also given us the mind of Christ to consider life’s challenges from an eternal perspective and not only a temporal perspective. Another resource that God has given us is His Word, the Truth, to shape our thinking and to reason out life’s difficulties. And of course, God has given us His church, the local Body of Christ to encourage and strengthen us. These are a few of the resources God provides to us, His children.

Today and next week, we will consider the blessing of Christian friendship. Gina and I are thankful to have some very special friends in our lives. We have friends who encourage us, friends who challenge us, friends who strengthen us, and friends who pray for us.

Recently, we celebrated our 35th wedding anniversary. Like others do, Gina posted our picture on social media and referenced our anniversary. I was astounded at the number of responses we received. As I read each one, I thought about the relationships we forged throughout the years. Truthfully, we are blessed with many friends, some close, some distant, some near, some far away. But as I read those comments, I couldn’t help but be thankful for the encouragement we have received through friendships.

Life is full of adversity. In some cases that adversity is self-inflicted. In other cases, that adversity comes at the hands of other people. And in some cases, that adversity comes from life and the fact that we live in a fallen world. And yes, some of those adversities come from God Himself. Yet along the way, God has provided faithful friends who have stood with us, by us, and even in place of us through those adversities.

We are blessed to say we have friends that have loved us “at all times” according to Proverbs 17:17. This has challenged me today and so I want to share with you three personal challenges.

Be Thankful for Your Friends

Gratitude is becoming a lost value in our culture today. We see people who think only of themselves and never consider the blessings of friendship and relationships. We see others who rarely express their appreciation to God for their friendships. Let’s not be this way; let’s be people who are thankful for friends. In fact, I would like to encourage you to express your thankfulness both to God and to those special friends around you. Let them know you are thankful they stood with you and by you and for you. Be thankful and let them know.

Strengthen the Friendship You Already Have

Not only should we be thankful for our friendships, but we should also be cultivating new friendships. The goal is not to see how many friends we can have, either in life or on social media. The goal is to be a true friend and stand with that person through life’s adversities. So be thankful but also cultivate and strengthen your friendships.

Be a Friend to the Friendless

Loneliness is a terrible thing. Can you imagine going through life without close friends with whom to share the burdens of life? Can you imagine walking through a job loss without a friend, or losing a spouse and having no friends, or dealing with a frightening diagnosis and not having any friends? There are people around you and me every day who need a friend. So, keep your eyes open, find that person, and be a friend.

As wonderful as human friendship is, there is a friendship that is even more rewarding. Did you know that one of the greatest blessings any believer in Christ has is the friendship we have with God Himself? In John 15:15 the Bible says, “No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, because all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you.” That is exactly right, because of our salvation, we are friends with God. He is the friend that never forsakes us.

A Prayer for Today

Thank you, God, for being our Father and our Friend! Help me to be the friend I need to be to those around me, and thank you for the friendships you have given me!