A few weeks ago I asked my youth group to list qualities they want in a close friend. I then asked them to rate their friends on how well they met the listed qualities. Many of them rated their friends fairly high and I exclaimed, “That’s great! Seems like you all have some pretty good friends.” Then I turned the table on them and asked them to rate themselves as to how well they met the listed qualities when being a friend. As they reflected on their own abilities to be good friends, the sad reality was that they did not feel as though they were as kind and capable as their own friends.
Solomon wrote in Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 “Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their labor. For if they fall, one will lift up his companion. But woe to him who is alone when he falls, for he has no one to help him up. Again, if two lie down together, they will keep warm; but how can one be warm alone? Though one may be overpowered by another, two can withstand him. And a threefold cord is not quickly broken.” Jesus is that third cord that strengthens a friendship and keeps it bonded when one is fallen, alone, or feels overpowered by life.
The absolute best example and standard of our greatest Friend ever is found in John 15:13 “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.” It is an admonition for us to consider Jesus in our friendships and to be others-centered even if it means a sacrifice of time, resources, or ourselves.
May our prayer be, to be the best friend to our friends with Jesus as our bond and third cord.
-Brian Lee
Solomon wrote in Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 “Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their labor. For if they fall, one will lift up his companion. But woe to him who is alone when he falls, for he has no one to help him up. Again, if two lie down together, they will keep warm; but how can one be warm alone? Though one may be overpowered by another, two can withstand him. And a threefold cord is not quickly broken.” Jesus is that third cord that strengthens a friendship and keeps it bonded when one is fallen, alone, or feels overpowered by life.
The absolute best example and standard of our greatest Friend ever is found in John 15:13 “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.” It is an admonition for us to consider Jesus in our friendships and to be others-centered even if it means a sacrifice of time, resources, or ourselves.
May our prayer be, to be the best friend to our friends with Jesus as our bond and third cord.
-Brian Lee
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