Friendship

:)

I just had a feeling this afternoon that I should attend the Intervarsity worship tonight, and yay, it was awesome!

So we had two speakers tonight, they were talking about Friendship, and what the Bible says about friends.

Friends should be committed. We should find a church, fellowship, and spend time with them, stay with them. The speaker said that even if you have been attending a fellowship for a couple of months and you still haven't really made friends, well, keep trying!

Friendship is about connections we have with others. Nowadays with facebook and internet, it's easy for us to stay connected superficially, but not any deeper. In the Bible, God speaks with Moses face to face, and He considered Moses a friend. So God also expects us to talk with our friends FACE TO FACE. Call up a friend, meet at a cafe, and just create a deeper bond.

Friends are sacrificial. Jesus has sacraficed his life for us, his friends. So we should do the same for our friends.

John 15:11-17
¹¹I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. ¹²My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. ¹³Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. ¹⁴You are my friends if you do what I command. ¹⁵I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. ¹⁶You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. ¹⁷This is my command: Love each other.

The speaker also said that many people don't have any lifetime friends, we should be happy if we have 1-3 close friends. Also, we should be friends with those who are on the same spiritual level as us. Even though we can still have non-Christian friends, they won't be able to understand the depth of the love and emotions we feel for God.

I'm so thankful for the 3 close friends I have right now, even though I don't see them as often as I would like to, I still feel they are people I can trust, and who will be with me through the ups and downs of life. I'm also thankful that they are Christians :) If I haven't met them, I doubt I would become a Christian this early.

I also pray to become better friends with people in my college and from HCC, right now, I need a fellowship to help me through the tough times in life, and simply help me grow as a Christian, and keep me connected with other believers.

It's so easy to drift away when you are not part of a Christian community.

I talked to some of my non-Christian friends at UH this week. I was shocked to find out that one of the girls is dating a Mexican guy she met at a club.....she told me he's rich, and he works on race cars...he never went to college though, and he drinks all the time......she said she's just dating for fun, but still. I see dating as more serious than that, it requires a lot of commitement on both sides. Sigh, she was such an innocent girl when I first met her, and now, because she hangs out with some crazy people at the music college, she changed....I thought God has given her a warning when the car accident happened on her birthday, but no..she's going clubbing more often now, and I know she probably drinks, smokes and does drug sometimes as well....sigh. She invited me to go clubbing with them, I kindly refused...I wish she can see that what she's doing is not good for her, but alas, it's difficult, I'm trying.

Friends really do make a difference in the way we live. I'm glad for the friends I have now, and I pray that I will meet with some new friends as well.

The Lord is good to us :)