I Love You Man (Mark 2)
Mark 2.3-4 Then they came to Him, bringing a paralytic who was carried by four men. And when they could not come near Him because of the crowd, they uncovered the roof where He was. So when they had broken through, they let down the bed on which the paralytic was lying. [nkjv]
Over the years God has blessed me with lots of really good friends. But if I were being honest I would have to say that I don't have many really close friends. Actually if I am being super honest, besides my wife and kids, I don't really have any.
It's been this way pretty much since high school. I've moved so many times and with each new location, I'd have to start all over again. Just in the last 16 years, Cath & I calculated we have moved interstate 6 times, that's roughly every 2-3 years. That doesn't allow a great deal of time for deep friendships to develop before you have to uproot and start all over again somewhere else.
It all came pounding home to me last week when I had the rare opportunity to go to the movies. I really wanted to go with someone but didn't know who to ask, so I went alone. What made it worse was the movie itself. A guy about to be married, realising he had no guy friends to ask to be his best man, went on a series of 'man dates' to find a friend. Despite being a horribly bad movie, I did take away something from it - no man is an island. No matter who we are, we all need a 'best' friend.
A 'best' friend is someone who helps keep you sharp, focussed and on course. They know how to lift you up and just like the four friends of this paralyzed guy, a 'best' friend is someone who carries you to Jesus.
I think this is one of the real true marks of a friend today. Someone who through their words or actions will pick you up when you are down and bring you closer to Jesus. This is what I am looking for.
In Proverbs it says that whoever wants to have a friend must first be a friend. So rather than sit around moping, my prayer is that I can be this sort of person to someone else. Then who knows what can happen from there...
3 comments:
Wow, is what I say to that Joseph, how true.
Here, here ..I think a lot of us are in that same boat...we dont really have many/any "best" friends..I,myself can relate to that story...
Having no friends is much better than believing that you have friends that are not, which seems to happen more often than it should in a society that doesn't know how to be "true blue"....
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