My friend
and I were traveling together, and she seemed a bit frazzled. When we got to
the airport, she forgot to have her identification readily available and
couldn’t find her reservation confirmation number. The ticket agent waited
patiently, smiled, and then helped her at the “self” check-in. After receiving
her ticket, she asked, “Where do we go next?” The agent smiled again, pointed
at me, and said to him, “Stay close to your friend.”
That can
be good advice for all of us when our lives get frazzled—stay close to your
friends. Although Jesus is our best friend, we also need relationships with
fellow believers to help us survive in this life.
In his
first epistle, Peter was writing to believers who needed one another because
they were suffering for their faith. In a few short sentences in chapter 4,
Peter mentioned the need to receive and give “fervent love,” prayer, and
hospitality (vv.7-9). He also included the need for believers to use their
spiritual gifts to minister to one another (v.10). In other passages, we’re
encouraged to comfort each other with the comfort we’ve been given by God (2 Cor. 1:3-4)
and to build each other up in love (1 Thess. 5:11).
Staying close to godly friends helps us to stay
close to God.
When life
gets difficult, staying close to our friends will help us to get through. (RBC)
