 Pals
With Thanksgiving coming up next week this is a time when we tend to think about what we are most grateful for in our lives. It doesn’t usually take too long to realize that the most important elements of our lives are the people and not the things. Pleasures, possessions, and properties are empty without the connection and value found in genuine companionship. The holidays are traditionally a time when many people gather with and focus on family. This is certainly appropriate. However, our physical relatives are not the only relationships with which we are blessed. God has given us connections with other image bearers in deep and abiding friendships. These people, while not our close flesh and blood, are still knit close to hearts by God’s grace. It may have been because we happened to grow up in the same town, go to the same school, work at the same job, play on the same team, share the same hobby, or serve the same military but God uses these kinds of experience to mold us and shape our relationships. Count your many Blessings As we prepare for the joyous festivities of the Thanksgiving holiday, we must remember to express our great appreciation to God for every good and perfect gift that we have received (James 1:17). While we should praise God for everything including the provisions, possessions, and positions with which He has graced our lives, we also must put the preeminence and priority on the people that God has kindly placed in our circle of influence and friendship. May we let this accounting begin with those in our own household. Let us praise God for our families, those who are our own flesh and blood. In both our immediate and extended families let us praise God for these people who God has sovereign placed us with and plead for their true blessing. But let us also give great glory to God for our faithful friends who have stood by us in both good and bad times. Whether they be childhood companions, college buddies, or new pals; these people are a blessing. I especially want to point out that while friendships mediated by distance and technology are still wonderful, we all need real flesh and blood companionship and fellowship. Let us praise God for these people with which we can laugh, weep, and reminisce about kindness to us. However, we must also remember to be thankful for those people with whom God has brought us into the covenant relationship of the local church. I know we live in an age where we celebrate our autonomy. But we must realize that behind every creaturely decision that we have made God has been guiding and directing us to bring us to the place where we are. Since this is the case, it is not an accident that those people down the row or pew from you are there. God has brought you both into this covenant relationship. We ought to be thankful for the blessing of a faithful church. With these covenant relationships come many wonderful responsibilities and privileges, in these things we ought to recognize God’s blessing flowing to us through these other Spirit filled Saints. What a Friend But the friend we ought to be most thankful for is the Lord Jesus Christ! As the old song goes, “what a friend we have in Jesus”. Remember when Jesus was hours away from His wrongful arrest, trumped up trial, and horrific execution, He reminded the eleven disciples that He had chosen them to be more than mere servants but actual close and valued friends (John 15:12-17). Jesus is the best friend anyone could ever or will ever have. He is truly the friend that is closer than a brother (Proverbs 18:24). Ultimately, it is through our faith in the friendship and Lordship of Jesus that brings us into a relationship of peace with God (Romans 5:1). Remember that Abraham believed God and based on the relationship of righteousness based on faith, Abraham was also called the friend of God (James 2:23). The reality is that no one is in a place of neutrality when it comes to God. Everyone is either a friend of God through repentant faith placed in the one and only Lord Jesus Christ, or an enemy of God, in rebellion against His justice and fallen in sin and iniquity. So what about you? Are you a friend or an enemy? Let me give some friendly advice. Turn to Christ in faith and draw near to God the greatest friend you will ever know!
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