Friends...

Friends. We all have such a skewed concept of friendship sometimes. Making it trivial and weird so many times. It seems there are a few lessons about friendship that we must all learn in our hearts. First that there is a "friend that sticks closer than a brother" He must be our first and real friend. How amazing for God to say of Moses, "He is my friend".

We must understand the different types of friendships. There are lifetime covenant friendships that we must diligently guard and the Word is full of explicit instructions on doing so. Such is the friendship of a man and his wife.

There are "seasonal" friendships. This seems to be the hardest lesson for us to learn, oftentimes. If a season is good and friendship rich then we want to cling to it forever. Yet we must realize that seasons change. We progress and move into new realms and so do our "friends". Instead of begrudging this change, embrace it, bless it and welcome the new season.

There are "lifelong" friendships. There are very few of these but they do exist. Those are the relationships that transcend the seasons. They are rooted in a deep abiding love, respect and loyalty. There are less of these than most acknowledge.

There are "kingdom friendships" that are simply deep and abiding God connections. You cannot know if they are seasonal or lifelong but they are deep, appropriate, accurate and needed. Cherish them, glean from them, value them, enjoy them.

An error that we have made before is simply not knowing the difference between a friend and a supporter, a coworker, an acquaintance, a neighbor, a fellow worshipper, etc. Regarding someone who embraces you in their hearts only as one of these will bring disappointment if you regard them at a deeper level. Friendship must be birthed in a mutual sharing of life between two.

We must not try to make every relationship a deep abiding friendship. Sometimes that's not the plan....so enjoy it for what it is and let it be that. Don't strive to make it something it's not and is simply not suppose to be.

Finally, we have concluded that maybe the number one commodity in the earth is loyalty. It is a characteristic of genuine friendships. Loyalty is rare yet it is beautiful. We choose it over any other quality in the heart of another.

At the end of the day we hope to share Moses' testimony.....and simply be known as His "friend".