Biblical friendship is a strange thing. I differentiate because there are types of friendship that are not biblical. (Drinking buddies for instance)
Now that I wrote that I have to clarify. Nothing is wrong with having a beer. Something IS wrong with having 12 beers. There is a line in there that is between you and God. The bible calls the line "drunkenness." You know when you've crossed it.
Now I am WAY off subject.
I've had a lot of friends that didn't bring me closer to God. There was a point in my life where I gave up those friends to give my life to Sarah and God.
I put God second in that list for a reason. Sarah made me want to be closer to Him. God was second for a time.
Sarah and I dated for 2 weeks before I asked her to marry me. I have no idea why she thought that was a good idea. Her parents were less thrilled. I don't blame them one bit. One of the rules in order to marry Sarah was that I had to get a job. Sarah's mom found a job for me at a local dry cleaners.
Thats when a very cool thing happened.
I was immediately partnered to press shirts with this guy Cary. He was awesome. He didn't seem to care about a thing. I don't mean that in a bad way. He had passion. He was very nice. He just didn't seem to let things bother him. He always wore a bandana and drank from gallon jugs of water that he brought with him EVERYWHERE. He also wore rope sandals in the winter.
I loved working with Cary.
One morning, Cary asked me if I wanted to meet his friends. For some reason, I was REALLY nervous. Friends were people that always got me in trouble. For the past several weeks, I had abandoned my old friends. I didn't know if I wanted new friends. I agreed to meet them for coffee.
I don't remember the details of our first hang out. I can't tell you who all was there. I remember it being incredibly liberating. Here was a group of guys that didn't care about the things that I had spent so many years caring about. They talked about Jesus without making it sound phony. His name kept coming up in sentences. I thought we were only supposed to talk about Him in church. I remember feeling awkward when they talked loudly. I didn't want people to know we were "religious."
We started hanging out several nights a week. As I grew closer to my friends I noticed that I was growing farther from my old habits. I noticed that my relationship with Sarah was getting so much richer. I was excited by these changes. The most important things in my life were Sarah, my friends and God.
Did you notice that God was number 3? God knew I would put him in the 3rd slot. He knew what He was doing.
God had shown me true friendship for the first time. I wanted more.
I could talk to my new friends about my struggles because they were constantly sharing theirs. I never felt judged. I started to notice that our burdens were growing lighter. We were being set free. For my friends it might have been a slower progression. For me, a massive weight was being lifted very quickly.
One day our friendship progressed into something new. We wanted to apply it. We wanted to set everyone free. God became the most important thing in my life and I wanted to do something about it.
God went from the 3rd slot to the first.
That was when God did an unexpected thing. Jeremy announced that he was moving to Springfield for college. Cary announced that he was moving away for college as well. The four of us quickly became Brent and I.
It was very sad.
God accomplished some very big things during this transition. Jeremy married his long time girlfriend Kate. Sarah and I joined a mission group in Florida. Brent became a missionary to Ukraine where he would end up meeting his wife. Cary fell in love with Candace and didn't have to be alone anymore. (thats an inside joke for Cary)
God had accomplished something great during our time apart. There are thousands of miles separating us. We are still linked as strongly as ever because we all have Jesus. God isn't finished yet.
Biblical friendship is rich. I can't tell you where to find it. I think you have to try to make it. I believe that being more like Jesus is the first step to being a great friend. My friends brought me to Jesus. They showed me His grace. I don't know how God would have saved me without using them. I don't know what would have happened to my marriage with Sarah.
There are a lot of people that are hurting. You see them in college, at the bookstore, at the park... They are everywhere. Some people are really good at looking as if they are just fine. In fact, they might even look like they are doing better than you are. That's called a mask.
Look at the friendships that are already around you. Make an attempt to be more like Jesus everyday and watch those friendships start to change. You have no idea what seeds you can plant. You have no idea how free you can be. Lives will start to change and maybe someone will find Jesus that never knew Him before.
