Day 16

Who are your closest friends? Genuine friendships are challenging in a world of superficial acquaintances, shallow relationships, online friends, and chronic busyness. Today’s meaning of “friend” is nearly empty of substance. “Hanging with the crowd” can give us a false sense of belonging but often leaves us wounded and alone in times of trouble. Open, honest, supportive, and loving relationships don’t happen without investment in time together. Ask the Lord to lead you to close friends in his family. Minister to and serve those around you. Listen to their requests, faithfully upholding them in prayer. Spend time in Christian service with other servant believers. Join a Bible study or support group. As you do, trust that God will give you a stick-through-thick-and-thin-kind-of-friend as you pray to have “a friend who sticks closer than a brother.” Companions are easy to find but can be unreliable. The development of genuine Christian friends is an investment of effort and time, but they are friends with whom we will share forever. “A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.” Proverbs 18:24.