The Best Friend

This week God has really placed on my heart the value of friendship and community. There are a couple different aspects to this that I have become increasingly aware of. I talked about this in youth one night when we were going over Proverbs, and God laid the message on my heart again.

I’m sure you’ve heard the cliche saying “you become the average of the 5 people you hang around.” I’m here to tell you it’s true. We need to surround ourselves with fellow believers, and people that uplift and encourage us. Surround yourself with Christians in your inner circle, but don’t forget to venture out of that circle. Many times we become clique-ish and develop a mindset of superiority to others, when in fact we are all sinful people. Jesus is the best example of this. He surrounded Himself with the disciples, but He dignified people with a conversation and talked to the “dirty” ones. Jesus spoke to them, and loved them, and treated them no differently than anyone else. But He always went back to His community, His friends.

Now that we’ve discussed inner circle, count on your fingers who you would consider to be your top 5? No matter if the pieces of the puzzle are coming together or falling apart, who is it that you would call? Did you say Jesus? Did you say Jesus because that is the “Christian” answer or because He truly is one of your best friends? I say this because I’ve done it before. I paraded around claiming Jesus was first in my life when He evidently wasn’t. Remember that cliche saying from earlier? “You are the average of the 5 you hang around.” What if Jesus was in your top 5?

Your average would skyrocket because He was the only perfect person to ever walk on this earth. We would love to be more loving, patient, kind, forgiving, non-judgmental, and as disciplined as Jesus. You begin to resemble Jesus the more you lean in close to learn the whispers of His heart.

Recap: Find your “home” circle, and still love everyone in town. Genuinely have Jesus as your closest friend. Now, the final perspective God has shown me this week is by far the most challenging: we need to be that friend. I know that in a friend I want them to be loyal, honest, humorous, genuine, and loving. To find that in a friend, I need to be that as well so I can reciprocate it. Many of my inner circle are so selfless, and that is something I need to work on in myself so I can be a better friend to them. The “ouch” moment that God showed me this week was how many times I am an awful friend to Jesus, but He never repeals His friendship or His love. He doesn’t take it back. His grace covers me when I mess up, but He still wants me to pursue Him. Many times I daydream about Heaven. The streets are made of gold (Rev 21:21) so if something we treasure so much on earth is something to be walked on in Heaven -- how incredible!! I then began thinking, when I meet Jesus and our eyes lock, what will He say to me? Will He say He never knew me, or will our hearts already be so in sync from how much time we spent together while I was still on earth? A friendship goes two ways and for me to be a better friend to both Jesus and my peers I have to learn how. It all goes back to Jesus. We become a better friend to others by making an effort to spend time with Him and keep our relationship with Him center, I have learned from the most perfect example what love, peace, patience, and selflessness is because He has extended all of those virtues to me when I didn’t deserve them. He shows us so that we may show others.

It was made clear to me recently that many times when I am encountering someone that may conflict with me in whatever way, I shouldn’t try to pray them out of my life. Instead, we should pray for difficult people that offer differing views as an invitation to challenge us. Not everyone that Jesus met agreed with Him or pursued peace - many attempted to start conflict. It is easy for me to love those in my inner circle, but difficult people not so gently encourage me to put into practice what “being like Jesus” is really about. He loved some of the most difficult people because He saw them how His Father saw them - treasured.

“The righteous choose their friends carefully, but the way of the wicked leads them astray.” Proverbs 12:26