Best Friends?

By Mallory

For a very, very long time, I was really worried that I didn’t have a best friend. I looked for friends from elementary school until college. I looked in my neighborhood, several churches, and school for a true friend. Don’t we all want friends who are going to stick with us all the time? How about a trustworthy, loyal friend? Someone you have something in common with and can have fun with? Friends that love you no matter what?

It’s HARD to find friends like this. I remember hearing a woman I respect share about this a long time ago on a youth group trip. That was when it hit me that this is something we struggle with all through our lives. This parent volunteer expressed feelings of loneliness and told us that she eventually realized Jesus is her one true friend.

...Okay, here’s the truth: I feel a little weird when people bring up the ‘Jesus is your best friend’ thing. And here’s why: The thing I usually hear people say right after that is ‘He is your ONLY friend in the world.’ And I don’t think that has to be true. Of course Jesus is your most loyal companion. He loves you and gives you compassion so much more perfectly than a person ever could. I hope you all know this, and that you can always turn to Jesus when you are feeling hurt or alone. But let me tell you something - God sends people into our lives that we can trust and become close to. They may be your friends or family members, but God has put them in your life so you guys can BE friends and really love and care about each other. There are friends in my life (yeah, I finally found some best friends, but more on that later) who I know aren’t just my friends, but examples of Jesus’ love.

And let me tell you something else - Jesus is more than just our ‘friend.’ He is the LORD of our lives, our SAVIOR from our sins. Here’s a hint: any human friend who lords over your life is NOT someone you want around. Jesus has multiple roles in our life because He and the Trinity are huge, complex, cosmic, eternal, all-powerful. Everything meaningful and good comes from God. Sure, it’s amazing that he wants a relationship with all of us, but it’s a multi-layer relationship. There’s a parent-child relationship between you and God. Jesus is our teacher and our redeemer. And that’s why simply calling Jesus your ‘friend’ is really too small. There is SO much more to it than that, which is pretty exciting!

So I’m saying... Jesus loves you more fully than any person ever could, but there can and will be people in your life who are your best friends, too. And next week I’m going to explain what, exactly, that looks like.

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Coming soon...

Part two: Where do I find these best friends?  

(Hint: They are Christians, too, and they show Jesus’ love to you.)