Jonathan said to David, “Go in peace, for we have sworn friendship with each other in the name of the LORD, saying, ‘The LORD is witness between you and me, and between your descendants and my descendants forever.’ ” 1 Samuel 20:42
I once heard someone say at the end of your life you will be able to count your true friends on one hand. If you think about who would visit you if you were in hospital, who would come to your funeral, who you could go to if your struggling with something, who you could go on holidays with. In this fast paced life, we have lost the art of good friendship. The kind of commitment and friendship like David and Jonathon had.
They’d been through a lot together, through thick and thin. David loved Jonathon as he loved himself, they’d wept together, fought alongside each other, they were true friends.
You don’t see much of that in Aussie society. Recently at the “Valiant man” course, one guy shared how he really didn’t know much about real relationships until his wife really showed him how to care for people and be real with people. It got me thinking that we can race around and do, do, do so many things and never really be intimate with people.
I think if we want good friends, we need to be a good friend to those around us. To move past small talk about work, weather and whether the Broncos won or not. We need to be involved in one anothers lives, caring for each other, praying for each other, bearing one anothers burdens as the Bible puts it.
Bill Hybells says that a church can be sectioned into three areas: Cause/ Corporate and Community. I think at New Hope Brisbane we need to work on the community aspect more. To develop strong friendships, to share our lives with one another like they did in the book of Acts, to meet in one anothers homes for meals and fellowship. To spur one another on towards Love and good deeds.
Lord, help me be a good friend to those around me. Give me your heart, your Love and your Spirit. Amen.