A Friend
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A Friend
A Friend
Our dear sister Beyonce Carter in her latest collaborative album with her husband has a song on there in which the chorus repeats my friends are goals your friends are foes. Isn’t it interesting that the older we get the idea of friends change. The kid in the third grade has a ton of friends. People they think about when they bring cupcakes to school for their birthday. By middle school you typically have friends that have similar interest or friendships influenced by parental relationships. By high school things utterly change, people begin to evolve into what they thing they want to be, but the circle typically becomes smaller. Someone once said the friends you make in college will be the friends you will have for life. And even as you transcend into adulthood it is quite interesting that typically friends are more like family. We move to unfamiliar places, people you’ve left behind take steps on their journey and friendship is typically reduced to catching up on trips back home.
Jesus knew the importance of friendship. As powerful as he was and as supportive of a mother he had he still needed friends and understood the validity of having a good circle.
13 Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command you. 15 No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.
A friend is very necessary, in the first chapter of Luke we are introduced to a relationship that is quite peculiar yet important. We have a woman (Mary) who is with child but is a virgin. Then we have Elizabeth an older woman who was said to be barren nonetheless God blessed her with a child. Their relationship spanned across generations. Their mutual support for each other paved the way for Jesus and John the baptist to have a relationship that would ultimately change the dynamic of salvation for the entire world.
A Friend in Uncertain Times
A Friend in Uncertain Times
Imagine the uncertainty and anxiety Mary is experiencing at this time in verse 34 she exclaims that “how can this be, since I am a virgin”.
We all have times of uncertainty and during those times we hope and pray that God blesses us with a friend who is supportive during those times.
Think about what we go through when society provides a questionable aura around the consequences of our actions.
People come up with their own conclusions and during those times we need a friend that will support us in the toughest times.
It’s evident that this was an uncertain time for Mary, and not only does Elizabeth offer emotional and spiritual support and received encouragement from Elizabeth.
and she lifted up her voice with a loud cry, and said, blessed art thou among women, and blessed in the fruit of thy womb.
Nonetheless think of the anxiety on the other end. Elizabeth needs some emotional support and comfort too.
She was six months pregnant, any pregnant woman knows how important the last trimester is. Mary shows up and she feels the baby move.
No matter how unbelievable the journey is, a good friend to be there by your side is so very important.
The bible tells us that Mary stayed with her about three months and then returned home. Mary being in the beginning stages of her pregnancy and being younger probably has the ability to help her older friend and cousin with the end of her pregnancy and the beginning of her journey into motherhood.
We all are going through something, but that should not stop you from being a good friend to those in need!
Sometimes we need a place to stay
Sometimes we need someone to talk to
Sometimes we need someone who is not going to be judge, jury and executioner and just love on us like we need.
Every Mary Needs an Elizabeth
Every Mary Needs an Elizabeth
No matter the season of life, trial or celebration we need an Elizabeth in our life that is going to add comfort and peace not frustration and contamination to our life.
One who is righteous is a guide to his neighbor, but the way of the wicked leads them astray
Read more: https://www.whatchristianswanttoknow.com/bible-verses-about-friendship-20-good-scripture-quotes/#ixzz5Kd9liEYh
Carefully evaluate your friendships. The people you call friends are they drawing you closer to God or further away?
Make no friendship with a man given to anger, nor go with a wrathful man, lest you learn his ways and entangle yourself in a snare.
Read more: https://www.whatchristianswanttoknow.com/bible-verses-about-friendship-20-good-scripture-quotes/#ixzz5KdA1rRsz
Do some research, observe your friends. Elizabeth rejoiced at the sight of Mary and even extended a hand of hospitality in her time of need because that was who Elizabeth was internally.
Often times picking friends or even beginning friendships are not the tough part. The tough part is a continuous cultivation of friendships we they need forgiveness or when you need forgiveness.
Often times we know how to begin things but sustaining them is an issue. You have to know how to treat your friends too, and if the treatment of love, respect and generosity is one-sided they probably are not your friend.
And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them.
Love one another with brotherly affection. Out do one another in showing honor.
Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.
Paul even provides us for a checklist for friendships that we truly should take to heart. I believe Elizabeth was chosen by God to be a friend of Mary, she was kind, humble and compassionate. The fact that Mary was pregnant out of wedlock was not an opportunity to shun but a time to embrace and support.
Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.
I know many of you are probably like, Brother Ford, “I don’t need no friends, I’m good all by myself”. Listen you can sing that song for a little while but everybody needs somebody.
Where there is no guidance, a people falls, but in an abundance of counselors there is safety.
And even if you are in a season of loneliness and abandonment remember that Jesus is a friend that sticks closer than a brother or sister! Lean on Jesus and he can provide some of the best friends that your life has ever experienced. Remember if you are in a season of having bad friends look at it as a lesson, if you’ve never had a terrible friend you won’t know what a good friend looks like!