Do you ever find yourself taken back to childhood memories? There is a song we used to sing all the time when I was young- “Make new friends, but keep the old. One is silver and the other gold.” The song came to mind today because I received a surprise in my email box. A very dear friend of mine from Ghana emailed me. That may not seem like a big deal to you because you probably have multiple computers in your house and you probably check your email several times a day. Ghana is a third world country where resources like computers are not readily available. To send an email, my friend would have to walk to an internet café and pay a fee to get on the computer. She didn’t do this just because she had time to kill while waiting for her family to go somewhere; she had to make an effort to send me the email. It was a gift of the heart.
God created us for relationship. First and foremost, He created us to have relationship with Him [John 3:16]. However, He also created us to have relationships with other people [Genesis 2:18]. He chose to use other people to minister to us, encourage us, correct us, and love us. When you have a friend who is a friend in Christ, you have found something more valuable than silver or gold. They become the hands and feet of Christ as they love you into His likeness. Henry Ford once said, “My best friend is the one who brings out the best in me.”
Proverbs 17:17 says “A friend is always loyal, and a brother is born to help in time of need.” A friend in Christ isn’t just around for the good times, they are there when the wheels fall off the bus and they help you collect the wheels, reattach them and continue on your journey.
Take a moment today and thank God for the friendships He has blessed you with in your life. Make sure to thank Him for the friends who are silver- the new friends who have come into your life- and for those who are gold – the ones you have a long history with and they still love you.
Today, I am thanking God for all of you, my loyal readers. There are many days I wonder if anyone is out there reading what I write and just when I am about ready to throw in the towel, one of you will send me an email telling me how God spoke to you through a posting on the blog. You are the iron sharpening my life [Proverbs 27:17] and I thank God for you [Philippians 1:3]. Take a look in your treasure chest of life. You are wealthy beyond measure.