Have you ever sat down and thought about your friendships? The amount of effort you are putting into them, and ways they could be improved? It can become easy to let a friend or multiple friends be used to meet our needs without giving thought to returning the favor. We might get lonely, or bored, or want to share something that’s on our mind and so we turn to friends, but how often do we think, “what are this person’s needs and how can I meet them?”. How often do we ask our friends how we can be praying for them, what they are struggling with, how you can encourage them, or how you can serve them? This is a thought that’s been on my mind lately. I want to strive to show selfless love to all my friends, because if I can’t even do that, how do I expect to show that kind of love to my “neighbor”? I want to love even when it’s hard. I want to love even when it’s painful. I want to love even if it’s a sacrifice at times. I don’t want my friendships to be about me and what I can gain from them, I want them to be about God’s glory. I believe friendship should be about pointing eachother towards Christ at all times, challenging and pushing one another constantly. Using that friendship for God’s glory should be our ultimate goal, but how often is it? I would challenge you to start thinking about this, just as I have been reminded to.
Well said. Love, friendships, etc all require self sacrifice. It’s hard for sure but it’s that investment with out a return that can discourage one from pursuing this type of selflessness. I suppose that’s why God encourages us to give all to Him so He can be glorified friendships and love are best when entrusted to him and out of that letting go we can accomplish this.
Yep, it was actually your sister that inspired me to write this after she met me at a coffee shop to let me vent about my day to her. Such a great friend she is.