{"id":13619,"date":"2017-03-16T10:29:50","date_gmt":"2017-03-16T14:29:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/?p=13619"},"modified":"2017-03-16T10:45:04","modified_gmt":"2017-03-16T14:45:04","slug":"worship-wednesday-a-friends-a-friend-forever-michael-w-smith","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/?p=13619","title":{"rendered":"Worship Wednesday – Friends – Michael W. Smith"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Photo Credit: Pixabay<\/a><\/p>\n

A friend loves at all times, <\/span>and a brother is born for adversity.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/em><\/strong>– Proverbs 17:17<\/a>
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This is My commandment, that you love one another as I loved you. <\/em>Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.<\/em><\/span><\/strong>\u00a0<\/em><\/span>– <\/span><\/strong><\/em>John 15:12-13<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

Forever friends. What a grace of God! These are friends we don’t choose necessarily. They choose us, almost in spite of our own failings at being friends ourselves.<\/p>\n

I thank God for the friends who have coursed with us across continents, through births and deaths, and in both the mundane and extraordinary of life. Today we’re settled, for the most part, and there are days, in the solitude of this current life that I wonder if I have friends (I know…silly thoughts…when too much alone).<\/p>\n

In truth, this life of mine has been full of friends…lifelong, through all sorts of troubled water<\/a>, friends.<\/p>\n

Some of these friends turned out to be family, while others God Himself brought across our paths and a spark of commonality and community blazed into a fire. A fire that has warmed my heart from days to decades. A fire that snaps me out of my doldrums to be a better friend myself.<\/p>\n

Am I having a kumbaya moment<\/a>? Absolutely.<\/p>\n

Friendship is not something to be trifled with in life. I’m learning (thankful for friends who have suffered long with me over the years).<\/p>\n

Part of what has stirred this gratefulness today is in reading Scott Sauls<\/a>\u2019 book Befriend: Create Belonging in an Age of Judgment, Isolation, and Fear<\/em><\/a>. <\/em>Each short but full chapter addresses a kind of friendship in our lives. Within each kind of friendship, Sauls points to the kindness and mercy of God within those relationships…and how, in both strength and weakness, we have our place.<\/p>\n

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Photo Credit: Amazon<\/a><\/p>\n

Another writer, Dave Zuleger<\/a>, exposes our cultural bias of casualness with friendships.<\/p>\n

We need to begin defining true friendship and brotherly love not by conforming to cultural expectations, but by looking at the face of Jesus and being changed to look and love more like him (2 Corinthians 3:18<\/a>). When we look at Jesus, we find a friend who loves when we are unlovable, and a brother willing to die for us, even when we didn\u2019t deserve it. We find and experience a love utterly unlike what we normally find in ourselves, in our own hearts.<\/em><\/p>\n

We can be such fickle friends, distancing ourselves from difficult people and situations. If someone seems too immature, too demanding, or too inconvenient, we bail. We find excuses (legitimate ones of course!) to distance ourselves from these kinds of friends. Yet, Jesus \u2014 the perfect, holy Son of God \u2014 went and hung out among wicked sinners who were extremely immature, difficult, and even dangerous (they crucified him!). – <\/em>Dave Zuleger<\/a>
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Zuleger’s words reminded me of a very old song by Sharalee Lucas<\/a>:<\/p>\n

I see Jesus in your eyes, and it makes me love Him<\/em><\/p>\n

I feel Jesus in your touch, and I know He cares<\/em><\/p>\n

I hear Jesus in your voice, and it makes me listen<\/em><\/p>\n

And I trust you with my love, because you\u2019re His.<\/em><\/p>\n

I see Him\u2026<\/em> – Sharalee Lucas<\/a><\/p>\n

This is the sort of friendship I’ve known. That friend who came quietly to sit with Dave during my cancer surgery. Those friends whose love for my mama has been lavished on me since her death. The friend from work who refuses to define or disdain me by my different political views. The friend neglected who gives me grace. The friends who see value in me that I don’t see. The friends who include me in their great works. The friends who love in spite of…<\/p>\n

A cherished local friend told me recently that she was moving away within the next few months. Thinking of losing her, I was reminded of another old song about friends – the one Michael W. Smith<\/a> published in 1983. We never have to lose a friend. As our travels over the last 20+ years have shown us, God gives us forever friends, not limited by time or geography. For this mercy, I will always be grateful to Him.<\/p>\n

[BTW – for any younger friends who can’t wrap their sensibilities around this old song – I would love to know songs about friends that are super meaningful to you – so please let me know in the Comments.]<\/p>\n

Worship<\/a> with me, please…the God who calls us friend and who gives us the great grace of friends.<\/p>\n

Packing up the dreams God planted
\nIn the fertile soil of you
\nI can’t believe the hopes He’s granted
\nMeans a chapter of your life is through<\/div>\n
But we’ll keep you close as always
\nIt won’t even seem you’ve gone
\n‘Cause our hearts in big and small ways
\nWill keep the love that keeps us strong<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
And friends are friends forever
\nIf the Lord’s the Lord of them
\nAnd a friend will not say never
\n‘Cause the welcome will not end
\nThough it’s hard to let you go
\nIn the Father’s hands we know
\nThat a lifetime’s not too long
\nTo live as friends<\/div>\n
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And with the faith and love God’s given
\nSpringing from the hope we know
\nWe will pray the joy you live in
\nIs the strength that now you show<\/p>\n

We’ll keep you close as always
\nIt won’t even seem you’ve gone
\n‘Cause our hearts in big and small ways
\nWill keep the love that keeps us strong<\/p>\n

And friends are friends forever
\nIf the Lord’s the Lord of them
\nAnd a friend will not say never
\n‘Cause the welcome will not end
\nThough it’s hard to let you go
\nIn the Father’s hands we know
\nThat a lifetime’s not too long
\nTo live as friends<\/p>\n

And friends are friends forever
\nIf the Lord’s the Lord of them
\nAnd a friend will not say never
\n‘Cause the welcome will not end
\nThough it’s hard to let you go
\nIn the Father’s hands we know
\nThat a lifetime’s not too long
\nTo live as friends<\/p>\n

To live as friends<\/p>\n

Though it’s hard to let you go
\nIn the Father’s hands we know
\nThat a lifetime’s not too long
\nTo live as friends<\/p>\n

No a lifetime’s not too long
\nTo live as friends*<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u00a0We need to learn to see every friendship through the lens of the work of Christ on our behalf. To see that at the cross there is more than enough grace to cover a multitude of sins committed against us. To see the cross of Christ as the depth of suffering a perfect Brother was willing to endure. We need to remember a true brother moves closer when times get harder, and never leaves or forsakes a friend, even when the trial lasts a lifetime. –\u00a0<\/em>Dave Zuleger<\/a><\/div>\n
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Here’s to friends (images of just a few of the many amazing friends – would put up a lot more and you would get tired of scrolling) that God has given over the years):<\/div>\n
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