Close Friends
Jesus left the synagogue and went to the home of Simon. Now Simon’s mother-in-law was suffering from a high fever, and they asked Jesus to help her. So he bent over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her. She got up at once and began to wait on them. - Luke 4:38
How often do you think of the fact that Jesus had close friends? He knew their moms and ate in their homes and travelled with them regularly (all referenced in the above verse). “I have called you friends,” Jesus says to the twelve guys he spent most of his time with (John 15:15). And fairly soon after starting his career as an itinerant preacher, Jesus settles in more closely with three of them - Peter, James and John. Those three get mentioned five times together as being with Jesus in private, and it happens increasingly throughout the Gospels, so it’s obvious that they got closer over time.
At City Church we talk about the IN part of the triangle (below) - that tight knit community of friends that you grow with emotionally and spiritually. Building that kind of community takes time - it did for Jesus, too.
Take some time today to think about how you’re doing in your close friendships, praying through some of these questions as you felt led by the Spirit:
Where do you grieve and where do you celebrate in the area of your close friendships?
Are there friends you spend a lot of time with but aren’t that close to?
Do they help you on your journey to grow into who God made you? Do you help them?
Are their people you might initiate towards to become better friends?
What might it look like to take a risk with a friend to pray together? To speak a challenging truth to each other? To take some other step towards making the friendship a stronger part of the true community you’re called to?
