On Friendship...

Friends.

Everybody has them... or should, anyway.

The need to have a friend and be a friend is woven into the fiber of our very being.

Recently, back in my home-town, some of my classmates met for a 'Girls Night Out'. The pictures quickly appeared on facebook along with the comments (many from boys that had crushes on them 'back in the day'). I was truly amazed at how beautiful these girls looked after so many years! As I looked closer, I believe the Lord showed me that what I was seeing wasn't so much their beauty, (although obviously apparent), but the happiness they shared in being with close friends, reminiscing of days gone by and sharing with each other about their lives since high school.

I truly believe that we are 'created in His Image' and part of that Image is being a friend and having a friend.

When I looked around at those I come in contact with on a regular basis, I began to realize just how much true friendship should really mean to me. I began asking myself what my life would be without true friends. I now have a new appreciation for those that God has put in my life and have purposed in my heart never, ever to take them for granted again.

There are so many lonely and hurting people in the world today. Many are elderly and many are children and young adults who just need to feel the unconditional love of a true friend. Many have suffered great neglect and abusive relationships. You may just be surprised... one that seems the most cheerful, may be just the one that is the most in need of a true and loving friend.

Jesus befriended the unfriendly. He sought out those that the world cast away. He came "seeking to save that which is lost". What better way to encourage a lonely, hurting human being than to introduce them to Jesus Christ, the Son of God? Not only are you giving them a Friend for their time on this earth, you are giving them a Friend for all eternity.

Why not be a friend today and introduce someone to the Greatest Friend they could ever know?

"Dear Lord, please forgive me for taking my friends for granted and for feeling sorry for myself. Help me to remember that your word says in Proverbs 18:24 "A man that hath friends must shew himself friendly: and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother." Help me never be so selfish not to seek others in friendship and to tell others about Jesus, the Greatest friend on Earth and in Heaven... Help me to humbly kneel at the foot of the Cross as I continue to seek to lead a Cross-driven life.

"NO NOT ONE
There’s not a friend like the lowly Jesus,
No, not one! No, not one!
None else could heal all our soul’s diseases,
No, not one! No, not one!
Refrain:
Jesus knows all about our struggles,
He will guide till the day is done;
There’s not a friend like the lowly Jesus,
No, not one! No, not one!
No friend like Him is so high and holy,
No, not one! No, not one!
And yet no friend is so meek and lowly,
No, not one! No, not one!
There’s not an hour that He is not near us,
No, not one! No, not one!
No night so dark but His love can cheer us,
No, not one! No, not one!
Did ever saint find this Friend forsake him?
No, not one! No, not one!
Or sinner find that He would not take him?
No, not one! No, not one!
Was e’er a gift like the Savior given?
No, not one! No, not one!
Will He refuse us a home in heaven?
No, not one! No, not one!