As you know, I would like to address something over the next week that I am very passionate about, that is, Christian friendships. Together, let’s dive into this important topic, and what the Bible says about this all, through several articles that will explore different facets of this topic.
What do I mean by “Christian” friendships, you ask? I’m talking about the friendship between two believers. It’s special, because we have a bond that others don’t and we cannot have with others. I love my non-believing friends, don’t get me wrong, but there is something special about my believing ones. I can relax when I am around most of them and just be myself, and talk about pretty much anything. We can relate to each other in ways I can’t relate to non-believers. My life is centered around my faith, and the people that share that same faith truly understand me in a way my non-believing friends don’t. There also isn’t any underlying tension about religion that surfaces anytime I mention church, and I know I won’t be made fun of for going to church or youth group …. At least, I would hope so. :)
It’s not just that though, it’s also the friendships we as christians have with non-belivers and the ways we interact with them. How do we love them and how are we a light to them through the way that we are their friends?
What does a Christian friendship look like? Jesus sums up pretty well how we should act towards other believers in John 13:34, saying, “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” (NIV) How did Christ love us? He gave his life for us which is the ultimate display of Christian love and friendship, (see John 15:13) and forgave us. He rebuked his disciples but also deeply cared and loved them. He led them in a way that led to eternal life and continuously pointed his disciples and friends to God. How can we be like him, the perfect friend and counselor, the prince of peace? Let’s explore what that looks like together over the next month.
I would like to say, before we dive into this topic, that I don’t pretend to be an amazing friend, or a perfect one either, but this is something that I have carefully considering over the past two years after something happened and I realized I was not doing things right. I do not pretend to be an authority on this subject either, and maybe I am not the best person to address it, because I have made many mistakes and messed up constantly over the past, well… Lifetime. But, I am human, and no human is perfect. This subject is one that I have explored at length with a lot of the adults around me, including through asking someone to mentor me on this subject, as well as my close friends over the past five years.
Speaking of perfection, let’s get something straight before we start this series. You, or I, or anyone else for that matter, will never be a perfect friend. I've tried, believe me, and miserably failed time and time again. This means four things for us all: we will mess up and we need to accept that, but also, others will mess up, so we need to be ok with that. (I will cover this in more detail later in my post on forgiveness.) So, if you are putting any pressure on yourself to be this “super friend”, or perfect friend, don’t. Don’t get me wrong, I am acutely aware that it is not that simple. Also, I am not trying to say that we should not try to be the best friend we possibly can, we should strive to be that, but it is important to only do that to a certain degree. The point of this series isn’t to try to put a bunch of unrealistic expectations and unnecessary pressure on everyone, but to model a exemplary idea of what Christian friendship could look like, as well as to help each other through what this may look like in our lives and encourage each other.
So, will you join us on this journey over the next month? We would love to have you tag along!
-Rose
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