One Friendship

Good afternoon By My Side friends. I hope every one of you have been blessed in a special way this summer. The summer has passed by too quickly. End of August already. I hope you all had a chance to spend some wonderful quality time with family and friends. Speaking of friends, today I thought I would share a few words of wisdom that inspired me from Allen Hunt about friendship.

Do you have friends? I hope you do. What kind of friends do you have? A better question might be, what kind of friend are you? We all know that Jesus’ measuring stick for friendship is to “love one another as I have loved you”. One word only describes Jesus’ quality of great friendship, “Love”. Love that gives, love that sacrifices, love that’s selfless, patient and kind. That’s what Jesus teaches us about friendship.. We’re talking about real, deep, lasting friendships. Do you have these kind of friends? Are you that kind of friend?

One sure way to learn if you have a real friend is in a moment of crisis. You will see certain qualities. The first is Loyalty. Do you have friends who are only there when they need you but nowhere to be found when you need them? A loyal friend walks in when others are walking out. A real friendship will be rooted in loyalty.

The second quality of a real friend is Forgiveness. Love doesn’t hold grudges. Do you have friends who remind you of everything you’ve done wrong or always hold guilt over your head? Good friends and great friendships are rooted in forgiveness.

The third is Honesty. A true, deep friend speaks the truth in love. They don’t just tell you what you want to hear. They actually tell you when you have food stuck in your teeth. They also tell you things that are harder to hear. A good friend confronts you when you are making a mistake, even when it hurts because that friend doesn’t just want you to feel better. This real friend wants you to become better and stronger. Do you have a friend like that? Someone who loves you enough to come and say, ” you really ought to consider that again” or “if I were you I’d think about this” even when they know you probably won’t want to hear it. That’s what a true deep friend does. They love you enough to speak the truth to make you better.

Finally, a true friendship has Dedication. A true friend sacrifices, is selfless, devoted to the friendship, is committed. That’s the kind of love God has for us. Dedicated love takes lots of forms. Jesus even says “sometimes, it means laying down your life for a friend because always, dedication means sacrifice”.

I once had a crisis in my life and one of my dear friends, dropped everything she was doing, left work, and called me 3 times a day, for 3 months, showed up regularly with meals, she came and spent time with me weekly. What do you say to someone like that? Who drops everything at a moment’s notice in an unplanned time of crisis? Dedication. Jesus said that true friendships will be rooted in love.

Real friends show loyalty, forgiveness, honesty and dedication. Love shows itself in times of crisis. That’s the kind of love God has for you. What kind of friends do you have? What kind of friend are you?