Our Footsteps: On Establishing Friendships

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

On Establishing Friendships

Tomorrow, Lord willing, I will have dinner with my college roommate. Along with my family and his family, we will sit together and share stories of years ago. It's been over ten years since we've seen each other, so we have alot of catching up to do. I am reminded the importance of establishing and maintaining friendships as I see the years so quickly slip into the past. I dug through my journal and found this entry from a few years ago on 'Establishing Friendships':

A couple of things immediately come to mind, whether we are establishing new friendships or cultivating old ones:
1). As Christians, our friendships are built on the solid foundation of Christ, and when we get together to 'fellowship' with others, that time is spent around our common ground, i.e. our relationship/friendship with Him. Talking of God's work in our lives, sharing scriptures, etc.
2). Because of who we belong to, we have confidence to be ourselves, but yet always striving to improve our character and be the right kind of friend - which may require genuine changes of the heart in certain areas. One who is not overbearing or judgmental, willing to forgive and overlook perceived faults, but yet also willing to confront sin if necessary, speaking the truth in love.
3). Friendship is all about giving. What can I put into the relationship, rather than what gain will I receive. The strongest friendships have 2 people that try to out-do the other person in kindness, giving, etc. The weak friendships are the ones where one or both people are nothing but a drain on the other person. They literally suck them dry of all emotion.
4). I must cultivate my friendship with my most precious friend, the One who saved my sorry soul. Certainly we were created to be in relationships with others (it is not good for man to be alone!), but even if all other relationships fall away, I rest in the fact that I could go the rest of my life without one solitary earthly friend and all would be well - because of my friend and brother Christ.

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I Believe...

1). I believe that there is one God. I believe God consists of three persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
2). I believe that God is holy, righteous, loving, and just.
3). I believe that mankind is separated from God by sin; that sin entered the world through Adam and death through sin.
4). I believe that, because of sin, man is condemned. Because of God’s utter hatred for sin, there is an eternal conscious punishment in hell for all those who do not come to God on His terms, dealing with their sin.
5). I believe that confessing our sins and confessing Jesus Christ as Lord is the only way to properly deal with the sin that has infected everyone. Jesus Christ paid our sin debt on the cross; reconciliation by substitution. There is nothing we can do to add to the finished work of Christ.
6). I believe in the security of the believer, that once he is truly born-again, there is nothing that would cause him to lose his salvation.
7). I believe that upon the death of a true believer in Christ, that he is ushered immediately into the presence of the Lord, where he will live in everlasting joy in Heaven, experiencing eternal fellowship with God.
8). I believe in believer’s baptism by immersion. I don’t believe baptism is necessary for salvation, but it is a beautiful outward profession of an inward possession.
9). I believe in a literal 6-day creation where God created the heavens and the earth and then rested on the seventh day.
10). I believe that the words written in the Bible are truth. I believe that the Bible is inerrant in its parts and in its whole. I believe that the 66 books that make up the canon of scripture make the Bible complete and that God inspired the words written therein. The things that were written down in the Bible are sufficient for every need we have. Not only is God’s Word sufficient, but it is far superior to any other method of handling the problems that man faces, since He has given us all things pertaining to life and godliness.