Are You My Friend?

I have learned over the years that I have no better friend than Jesus.  This doesn't mean that I don't have some great friends because I do but when it comes right down to it, Jesus is a friend that sticks closer than any brother. All of us have been hurt at some point in time by someone who we called our friend. They may have shared your secrets with someone else. They may have lied on you.  They may have neglected to be there when you needed them most.  There are many reasons friends part ways. But I don't want to focus on the one that may have hurt you.  My focus today is on you or should I say ME.

The Bible tells us in Proverbs 18: 24...."A man that hath friends must show himself friendly."  One of the things the Lord is teaching me is that it is not always about the other person.  The other person won't be standing before God during the judgment speaking on my behalf.  I am accountable for me. So I need to learn the things that God requires of me.  I truly believe that part of the reason for some of my failed relationships was because I put too much faith in man. My faith is in God.  I counted on them to be there for me in situations where only God could really be there for me.  He was the only one who could do anything about the situation.  I hadn't really given the situation over to God in prayer and instead of Godly wisdom I was seeking earthly wisdom from individuals who had their own issues. Another thing I have a tendency to do when I am hurt is to isolate myself.  I take on the attitude that I don't need anybody.  I had to learn that I could not be a friend in isolation.  I also tend to lump everyone into the same category when it may have just been one or two individuals who had done me wrong. I build up a wall around myself.  When I take on this type of behavior, I am not showing myself friendly.  I am also not allowing anyone to be a friend to me.  Another thing I have done is retaliate.  Take on the attitude...'I'll show you."  Let me show you how I can walk right by you and not say anything to you.  But is that being Christ-like and furthermore, what does that prove? 

The best example I could find of a true friend was Jesus Christ himself.  After all, we are told to be imitators of Christ.  Remember in John 15: 15 when He said, '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 have learned from my Father I have made known to you'.  Jesus thought enough of me to share what He learned from God the Father in order to make me a better person.  Therefore, as a friend I should help to make you better.  I should be able to share the truth in love, even though it might hurt at first.  As a friend I should lift you up when you are down. Not use your storm as a way to make myself look better or make me seem more popular by spreading your business to others.  And the best thing I can do for you is to pray for you. At the end of the day, I believe that this verse means that friendship between two individuals is only as good as you make it.  Friends should be like-minded. Friends should be able to say they are sorry when they have done wrong.  We may never be called upon to lay down our life for a friend as Jesus did for us because He loved us just that much. We should, however, cherish our friendships and be the friend that we want others to be to us. 

Dear Lord,

As I reflect over my relationships I can see that I have not always been the best friend that I could have been.  I have been selfish and sometimes talked to much.  I have shut down and not allowed others to be my friend as well.  I need your help today to be the type of friend to others that you would have me to be. Give me the wisdom to see people, as just that people.  We all have faults.  Give me the discernment to know those individuals that are good for me and those that are not.  Help me to pray for them all and to represent you in love. In Jesus' Wonderful Name Amen.