Do you have friends? I hope so. Here's the good question though. What kind of friends do you have? Or a better question might be what kind of friend are you? Jesus gives us a really good measuring stick for friendship today. Here it is, "Love one another as I have loved you. This I command you to love one another." Right there, Jesus summarizes the key quality of a great friendship in one word, love. It's agape love, love that gives, love that sacrifices, love that's selfless, love that's patient. That's what Jesus said about true friendship. Love each other as I have loved you. So we're talking about real, true, deep, lasting friendships. Do you have any really good friends? And what kind of friend are you? One sure way to learn whether you have a real friend is in a moment of crisis. You will see certain qualities. One thing you'll absolutely see is loyalty. Do you have friends who are only there when they need you? But nowhere to be found when your life lands in the ditch? I'm talking about loyalty. A friend is one who walks in when others are walking out. Love means a real friendship will be rooted in loyalty. A second thing, love also means there will be forgiveness. Love doesn't hold grudges. Do you have friends who are always reminding you of everything you've done wrong or always holding guilt over your head?
You also find that real love produces honesty in a friendship. 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 spinach in your teeth. And they tell you things that are even harder to hear. A good friend will confront you when you're making a mistake, even when it hurts, because that friend doesn't just want to make you feel better. The real friend hopes to make you a better version of yourself. Do you have a friend like that? Someone who loves you enough to come to you 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. And finally, a true friendship has dedication, dedication. A friend sacrifices, is selfless, devoted to the friendship, committed. But 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 almost always dedication means sacrifice.
The cell phone rang. It was late in the day, and I was driving home from a critical incident. It was my sister-in-law. “Matt, I am at the nursing home with Aunt Helen and she’s not doing well, the end is very near. I got to make some tough decisions and need your help.” She had to decide how she was going to make funeral arrangements. She found an insurance policy in which she was the beneficiary, but she didn’t know how to get the information how to make a claim.
I told Kathy I’m on my way. So I turned my car around from home and drove straight to the nursing home. Kathy said, “you got stuff to take care of right now. I will figure it out. I'll keep you posted. Don't worry about it." I said, "No, no, I'm on my way.” I’m going to come and I will contact the Life Insurance policy and get what you need so that you will ready to take care of Aunt Helen when God calls her to heaven,
Lord, I pray for all my Sonshine Friends who drop everything at a moment's notice in an unplanned time of crisis. Jesus said that real, true friendships will be rooted in love. Real friends will show loyalty, forgiveness, honesty, and dedication. Love shows itself most of all 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?
