“Dear friends, build each other up in your most holy faith” (Jude 20)
Lord Jesus, it’s dangerously easy to presume on our most vital friendships—investing less, giving in to gradual heart-drift, busyness trumping connection, pretending replacing vulnerability, shame muting honesty. We’re wise to acknowledge this, and foolish (idiots) to deny it.
The older we get, the more we need our friendships—friendships shaped by, and saturated with, the Gospel. “Building each other up in our most holy faith,” rather than falling into cruise control friendship. I wish our hearts naturally drifted towards the priority of friendship, fellowship with you, the Spirit’s fruit, the joy of repentance, But it just doesn’t work that way. The devil has lost us for eternity, so he is constantly attempting to destroy our love for you (2Cor.11:1-3), and make our friendships “meh,” superficial, and optional.
Predictably, each of us will go through seasons of heart-exhausting challenges, more plates to spins than is sustainable, discovering how weak we really are… along with hard-to-resist temptations, We really do need each other. As an introvert, I have to work hard at this. As an unglorified believer, I must work hard at it.
Jesus, this is our current and ultimate peace, freedom, and joy: You are our righteousness, holiness, and redemption. You are keeping us for yourself, and you will get us Home safely. But until that day, keep underscoring how important it is for us to be and have heart-friends—Gospel-friends. Aloneness is an option, but a bad and destructive one. So Very Amen.