BIBLE PASSAGE:
“…And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
(Matthew 28:20)
MEDITATION:
Remember when you were younger and there was one person
you considered as your very best friend? In today’s world, he
or she would be called your best friend forever (aka BFF).
It was the person you not only looked forward to seeing, but
you enjoyed spending as much time with as possible. You may
have had many other friends you enjoyed, but there was just
something special about your best friend.
When you were young, you couldn’t imagine ever having a time
when the two of you would not enjoy spending time together. But
over time, perhaps your friend’s parents had to relocate to another
state due to a job change and it caused a break in the time you could
spend with your friend.
Or maybe you and your friend became separated because you
attended different colleges. Marriage could have impacted the
closeness of your friendship. One of you may have gone into the
military or taken a job in another state that kept the two of you
apart.
Regardless of what may have caused a break in the time you spent
together, you may have kept in touch for years, but you just didn’t
have the same closeness you had when you were younger.
As time passed, your contact with each other may have become less
and over the years, your friendship may have eventually dissolved
altogether. Although you may still think about each other from time
to time, you both moved on and made new friends.
Wouldn’t it be great if there were no breaks in your friendship with
someone and it just continued forever? It’s rare whenever two good
friends can retain a closeness over the years, even though they aren’t
in close proximity with each other. However, I can attest that it is not
impossible to have a close friendship, even when you and your friends
are far apart and seldom see or talk to each other.
Personally, my wife and I have two friends who moved to another
state and yet we have remained very good friends over the years.
We keep in touch from time to time and even though we don’t have
a chance to get together very often, we still have a strong friendship.
We share each other’s burdens, and we communicate through texting,
cards, and phone calls.
But the most important part of our friendship is, we support each
other through difficult times, and we pray for each other. It’s special
whenever a friendship like ours can transcend time and distance, and
it is something we all four cherish!
How would you feel if you had a close friend who you enjoyed spending
time with, and you knew that nothing would ever cause a break in your
friendship? Rather than experiencing a decline in the closeness with your
friend, you would enjoy the growth of your friendship every day.
Jesus is that kind of friend! He assures us that He will always be with us!
He promised He would be with us during the good times and the bad. He
didn’t say He ‘might’ be with us, He said “I am” with you. When He makes
a promise, we know we can rely on Him to fulfill that promise!
Jesus will be with us when the sun is shining and when the storm
clouds surround us. Our Lord is present with us no matter what
each day brings our way. It may be a day of joy or sadness, a day
of sickness or good health, a day of success or failure, etc. We can
find joy and security in knowing that He is with us…always!
Regardless of what’s going on, Jesus is walking beside us, loving
us, strengthening us, blessing us, encouraging us, teaching us,
and filling us with faith, hope, and love. As He envelops us with
a quiet serenity and security, our foes, fears, afflictions, and doubts
will begin to lessen. We can bear up in any setting and under any
circumstance because we know the Lord is nearby!
Need an example? When Paul was in Macedonia preaching
that Jesus was the Messiah and the Jews opposed him, look
at what the Lord said to Paul.
One night the Lord spoke to Paul in a vision:
“Do not be afraid; keep on speaking, do not be
silent. For I am with you, and no one is going
to attack and harm you, because I have many
people in this city.”
(Acts 18:9-10)
Did God’s assurance calm Paul’s fears and give him confidence?
You bet it did! Look at how he responded:
So Paul stayed in Corinth for a year
and a half, teaching them the word of God.
(Acts 18:11)
ACTION:
Have you chosen Jesus as your friend? Do you look forward
to spending time with Him, and do you enjoy your time of
fellowship with Him? Are you excited about meeting with
Him in worship, or do you allow other things and choices
to have a higher priority?
Do you look forward to spending time with Him in prayer,
or is prayer just an item on your checklist? Is your friendship
with Him growing daily? If you are a follower of Jesus, think
about a time when you had a crisis that you thought you would
never survive or overcome. But you did!
When the crisis was over, did you remind yourself that you survived
it because Jesus was with you? Or, did you think that somehow you
were able to overcome it on your own. It boils down to remembering
that Jesus was with you, or that you managed to have success in your
own strength. Which did you choose?
In the busy, face-paced world we live in, we are pulled in many directions
and we can find it difficult to carve out some quality time to spend with
the Lord (or other friends). If you have a Type-A personality like I do, then
your mind is often darting from one thing to another at the speed of light,
and it can be difficult to focus on the Lord for any continuous length of
time.
However, we can force ourselves to allocate a portion of each day just
to spend time with our Lord. He spent three hours on the cross dying
for our sins, so we should spend some amount of time with Him, right?
It might feel a little awkward initially, but we can overcome obstacles
that stunt our growth in friendship with our Savior and Friend if we
will dedicate time to read His messages to us in the Bible.
And when we are reading, we need to do more than just read the words;
we need to also spend time thinking about the message that is specifically
for us and our life. For us to fully focus on listening for His voice to speak
to us, we should try to shut down all other thoughts that are vying for our
time and attention.
When we can accomplish that, we will find that we will enjoy reading
for ‘quality’ and not ‘quantity’. We will be able to read just a few verses
at a time and pause to think about what His words are saying specifically
to us. And of course, after reading God’s Word, we can spend time praying
sincere prayers of quality, and not quantity.
When we ‘quality pray’, we will be able to openly and honestly speak to the Lord
about things that we might never discuss with others. In addition, we can ask
Him to help us in all the areas of our lives which are in opposition to righteous
living (the sinful thoughts and actions that are rebellious to the Lord; we may
not like how it sounds, but that’s what sin is – rebellion).
After we establish some time with the Lord (it may only be 15-30 minutes),
we will grow closer to Him and learn to appreciate all the good things He
has provided. It is also beneficial for us to spend some time thinking about
how He has blessed us.
When we do, we will find ourselves appreciating the Lord’s friendship and
presence even more. We will be amazed how we can actually chill out, relax,
and enjoy some non-stressful time, without any sense of urgency to attend
to other matters.
It can be a time of peace and tranquility that we often search for, but
struggle finding this desperate need of ours (whether we want to admit
it or not). Spending time with the Lord is available to all, but we must
make the choice of allocating time for Him every single day.
Pray,
“Heavenly Father, thank You for the promise that Your Son will
always be with us. Help me to understand the importance of my
friendship with Him. Even though He is holy and worthy of all
my worship and praise, thankfully He is still always with me at
all times. Although I have not seen Him physically, I have seen
the evidence of His (and Your) existence. One day I will be able
to see you both face to face, and for that I am very, very thankful.”
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