You Gotta have a Friend
Who needs 'EM?
Flesh-and Blood friends can seem like a high maintenance "extra" when you've got the world wide web, an Ipod Library stocked with personal favorites, a basket of remote controls by the sofa, and 24-7 accessibility to chat rooms, bloggers, and online retailers. friends, after all, can be demanding. Friendships can be time-consuming and messy. Who needs significant others when life is already crowded with obligations?
The answer: We do- all of us. If the Son of God himself invested heavily in the lives of others- needed them and entrusted Himself to them- can we get by with less? and even more importantly, are we meant to? His example and His instructions suggest that we are not. So, if we are to cultivate friendships as Jesus did, what should they look like?
Friendship Fleshed out
Friendship is deliberate. Sure, we serendipitously meet people,but we decide who will become a trusted friend. Jesus called a band of Twelve to be with him as he taught and traveled, but even among those Twelve, he had an inner circle- Peter, James and John- and one John, who seemed exceptionally close. Friendship doesn't just happen. We make room for it, We make time for it, and We determine who will occupy that emotional space and time. "A man with many friends may be harmed, but there is a friend who stays closer than a Brother" (Prov. 18:24). Because friendship takes time, the selection and cultivation of friends must be deliberate. We simply can't invest deeply in more than a handful of lives.
Burden-Bearing Friends
"Carry one another's burdens," the Apostle Paul wrote to his friends at Galatia, "in this way you will fulfill the Law of Christ" Friendship is most keenly defined (and Strengthened)in the difficult times of life. When trouble comes, the dividing line between true friends and mere acquaintances is sharply drawn. True friends come in when others go out, an they stay. Not all of Jesus'friends followed him into the courtyard of the high priest-but peter did. Not everyone who called Jesus friend stood at the foot of the cross-but a few did.
when illness or sorrow or joblessness or shame come, we learn whom our friends are. It was true for Jesus, an it's no less true for us. As we cultivate friendships, we discover what Jesus knew and taught: We are made for intimacy and community-with God and with one another.
Written by Leigh McLeroy
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