I need real friends.

You need real friends.

Real friends are people who care about us, easily forgive us and want the best for us.  They are the people in our lives who cheer us on in the good times and listen well with extra tissues ready during the bad times.

Good friends also love us enough to speak up when we are getting off track.  They will hold us accountable for behavior that is not good for us.  They ask questions about our choices when our behavior is not going to help us reach the goals they know we want to achieve.  They love us enough to speak truth into our lives.

These friends also love us enough to share their love of God with us.  They walk beside us as we grow in our knowledge of God and celebrate with us when we experience the power and love of God in our lives.  They encourage us through the struggles of admitting we aren’t in control and they cheer us on as we figure out the only answer is to submit our Father God who is in control.

They help bring us to Jesus.

This is just like the four men who brought their paralyzed friend to Jesus in the second chapter of Mark.  Their friend couldn’t move, so his four friends carried him around on a mat.  They heard that this man, Jesus, was healing people – even paralyzed people – so they were determined to get their friend to Jesus.

You might think they would have been discouraged when they arrived and saw the huge crowd of people around the house that Jesus was in.  They didn’t care – this was their friend and this was going to happen….today…..right now.

So they carried their friend on his mat up to the top of the house and dug a hole in the roof right over Jesus’ head.  Then they lowered the mat down in front of Jesus.

Seeing the faith of his friends, Jesus said to the paralyzed man, ” Stand up, pick up your mat and go home.”

“And the man jumped up, grabbed his mat and walked through the stunned onlookers.”

Jesus honored the faith of this man’s friends and healed the paralyzed man.

Do I have any friends who need to get to Jesus?

Do you?

Are we good enough friends to help them get close enough to be touched by our Savior?

Please help us be good friends, Abba Father.