Today is my friend’s birthday. There are actually three of us that have been friends for more than four decades. We grew to love each other when we attended the same church in California. Unfortunately, we no longer live close to each other. We are in Utah, Montana, and Idaho, but when we are able to get together it doesn’t take any time at all until we are back to laughing and singing and loving.
Proverbs reminds us that “A friend loves at all times.” [Proverbs 17:17a]
That book also reminds us that there is “a friend who stays closer than a brother.” [Proverbs 18:24b]
When I think about the friends God has given me … the ones I have had for decades as well as the new ones I am making now … I am blessed. I know that they love me and that they will stay close to me no matter what is going on in my life.
But there is another friend. “I do not call you slaves anymore, because a slave doesn’t know what his master is doing. I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything I have heard from My Father.” [John 15:15]
Jesus told His disciples that their relationship was not master/slave, but friends. When He prayed for the disciples that were around Him then, He also prayed for those future disciples who would believe everything He said because of their testimony. That’s us! And as the original disciples were friends with Christ Jesus, so the future disciples would be also.
I have friends who love me all the time … I have friends who are closer than even people related to me … and one of them is named Jesus.
Thank you, LORD, for friends.
