Friendship
By Shauna Leis
“Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work: If one falls down, his friend can pick him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up! Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm. But how can one keep warm alone? Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.”
Ecclesiastes 4:9-12
Friends help us through so many different phases in life. As you can read from the passage above, friends are important while walking, sleeping, working, and staying strong. They keep us warm, defend us, and stick with us regardless of the circumstances that come our way. Friends are precious commodities in a world where not much else is considered important.
My grandparents all died when I was very young, and one of my best friends let me lean on his shoulder to cry it out. He was my strength during these most difficult times. At other times in our lives, friends are there to rejoice with us. After both my son and daughter were born, there were so many friends who threw parties for us, gave us gifts for the children, and most importantly brought us meals when we were too tired to even move off of the couch and Laz-Y-Boy. We treasured those moments knowing that we were not alone in this new phase of our lives!
Other friends are our strength to stay rooted in the word. Our small group Bible study friends are probably some of the best friends we have as a couple. We fellowship together, eat together, our children play together, and mostly we hold each other accountable to stay focused on God’s Word and how it applies to our lives. We have studied together on parenting, stewardship, strengthening our marriages, and more. We challenge each other to stay strong in a very fallen world where so many other things threaten to pull us in so many different directions.
Even more importantly, some of our friends help us in serving our Lord through His work. My sweet friends at Christ Compels constantly lift me up in prayer and encourage me to remain a faithful servant to God. Jesus had friends like this in His disciples. Mark 14:32-34 records for us a special exchange between Jesus and His friends. “They went to a place called Gethsemane, and Jesus said to His disciples, ‘Sit here while I pray.’ He took Peter, James, and John along with Him, and He began to be deeply distressed and troubled. ‘My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death,’ He said to them. ‘Stay here and keep watch.’” Other translations record that Jesus said, “Keep watch and pray.”
There is no more precious a friend to any of us than one who would pray for us through any need or any phase in our lives. We are serving God when we in turn pray for that friend. Oh, how I pray that you have the same kind of friends in your life that I have been blessed with in mine. If you do, thank God every day for them and how blessed you are. If you do not, then pray that God will bring a true friend into your life that will be with you through all of life’s experiences. I have personally seen these prayers answered in my life, in the life of my best friends, and in the life of my husband. God is a God of community and desires for us to spend it together, helping each other along this journey. Trust Him that He will not neglect you, either!
Pray with me: Jesus, our Precious Friend above all friends, we are so very thankful for all of the friends we have in our lives who encourage us and pray for us. Lord, we earnestly pray that if any of our friends reading this right now do not have a friend to lean on, then we pray that You will lead the chosen one for her right into her path to be there for her. We know that friendship is so very important to You because of Your example through Your disciples. We pray that You will also show us how to be a friend like You! We pray all of this in the precious name above all names, our friend, Jesus!