5:109 – The best friendships defy explanation

#faithbites #faithjourney friendships

Intro

Most of you know I’m a pretty personable guy and get along with most. While I’ve shared it here before, I have many acquaintances, some friends, and a very small group of very close friends. The funny thing is I never chose who would be in that inner circle, at least not actively. God put those people in my life for a reason. The thing about best friendships is they defy any explanation. How can you be in that type of friendship if you hardly ever talk? What about times when you fight and disagree? Maybe people in that circle call you out or call you in on your crap. They can also push off gathering together because they are helping others or need to help themselves. The thing about best friendships is they are still as strong in spite of that. As my best friend and I joke, “friends help you move. Real friends help you move bodies.”

Questions

• How do you nurture your friendships?
• If you have people in this category, how are they different than your other friends or acquaintances?
• How does your faith help you strengthen those relationships?

Scripture

• Colossians 3:12-14 – Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.
• Proverbs 19:20 – Listen to advice and accept discipline, and at the end you will be counted among the wise.
• John 15:12-15 – My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.

Reflection

Our scripture readings show three very powerful things about friendship. The first is that we love our friends no matter what. We grow and forgive. They also show that our friendships are based on shared experiences and adversity. Through living life with one another “we know our master’s business” and become friends. The final point is that these friendships should challenge us. We should correct, discipline, and challenge one another. I know my friends have challenged me to be a better human.

I love my friends and my best friends. The other day, I was watching a 9-1-1 Lone Star and one of the characters had an addiction problem. They couldn’t talk to their spouse about certain things but could talk to their sponsor. It wasn’t that they didn’t love their spouse but the sponsor had different experiences and a different role to play. I feel that way with my inner circle. I can tell them anything, even embarrassing, and there is no judgment, just love.

As we close, remember that friendships should be treasured. Best friendships defy explanation and rationalization but without them, we would be lost.

Prayer

Father God, thank you for friendships. Thank you specifically for best friends. Having those people who challenge, push, and force us to be better is what we need. Lord, help us to be as loving to them as they are to us. Give us the strength to push each other to be better through love and kindness. Lord, when we mess up, help them to forgive us as you forgive. We pray this in your name, Amen.