Devotional: Friendship

We have been blessed by God to be given the opportunity to have friendships and relationships that build one another up. He has given us experiences that wouldn’t have been as amazing as they are without people in our lives to take on the journey with us. But with these friendships can come a lot of hurt and suffering if we aren’t using those relationships for the purpose they were created for: to glorify God. God created man so that he can have relationships. Not only do we desire a relationship, but so does God! He designed us to long for friendship because he himself is seeking to fill that void in us by being at the center of everyone we interact with.

Have you ever left a hangout feeling drained; not filled in the way that you were hoping for? So have so many other people on this earth! What many don’t realize is that they are missing the key to how we should socialize: in fellowship with Christ. We have been given this false reality by the world, that the more followers we have on social media, or the more people we are around, the more significant we are. That is so far from the truth! Proverbs 18:24 says, “A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother”. Quantity of friendships has nothing compared to the quality that a friendship can have. 

The quality of a friendship comes from your intentions. Are you only seeking out friendship to fill your own selfish desires? Or are you seeking out friendship because Christ calls us to be in fellowship with one another and to lift each other up? Jesus, in order to seek a genuine relationship with us, where we can communicate and enjoy fellowship with him here on earth, allowed himself to be crucified in order to attain that. I can surely tell you that he did not go through all that pain because he selfishly wanted to suffer, he did it in pursuit of your well-being through the opportunity of having a friendship with him. Jesus’ intentions on the cross are supported by John 15:13, “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends”. Now I’m not saying you have to physically die in order to have good friendships, but in a way, you have to die to the flesh and pursue the spirit in your intentions with friendships. As you have probably experienced yourself, friendships die easily when one or both people are only seeking it for their own benefit.  Friendships should not be self-seeking, if you notice people in your life are only there for their own convenience then reevaluate their place in your life.

Friendship is a beautiful thing that the Lord has been so gracious to even let us experience. But it can all turn to vain when Christ is not the intention behind it. One way to tell if a friendship is worth keeping is if both of you are feeling encouraged and growing closer to the Lord because of it. As Proverbs 27:17 explains, “Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another.” When you hang out with that person do you feel uplifted in the spirit, or do you feel more in the flesh? Do you trust these people to be open and vulnerable with them to share personal things? If not, then it’s probably because they aren’t reliable sources to lean on. In John 15:14-15 Jesus is speaking to his disciples saying, “You are my friends if you do what I command. 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 learned from my Father I have made known to you.” Friends know of each other’s personal situations in order to support and encourage one another in vulnerability. Christ calls us to seek friendships that are genuine, open and centered on Jesus. 

Devotional Prayer:

Jesus thank you for the suffering and sacrifice you went through in order to seek a genuine friendship with me. I am undeserving of your grace, but it is because of your love for me that you desire a relationship with me. I pray I seek you in all interactions that I have with others so that they may know you are in me. If there is any way that I am lacking to be the friend that you call me to be for others, correct me and teach me how to be that person for your kingdom. Help me to discern the friendships that I need to weed out that aren’t glorifying to your name, while also keeping me intentional with the friendships that are edifying. May everything I do be to honor your name, Amen.

Journal Reflection Questions:

What does your friendship with Christ look like in your life?

What were some moments when you felt hurt by friends? Was it because you were acting in the flesh, or they were acting in the flesh?

What qualities of a friendship does Christ call us to have?

What are some friendships that keep you encouraged and what are some friendships you need to start weeding out to glorify God more?

Reflect on Matthew 18:20, “For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.”. What point is this verse trying to make?

Key Verses:

Proverbs 18:24 “A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.”

John 15:13 “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.”

Proverbs 27:17 “Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another.”

John 15:14-15 “You are my friends if you do what I command. 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 learned from my Father I have made known to you.”

Matthew 18:20 “For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.”