The Tie That Binds....

The month of July has been a delightful suprise for me. The major emphasis and application has been the topic of "fellowship and friendship". This month I have experienced the homecoming and fellowship of a dear friend who I have not seen for four years. It has been a thrill to catch up, be filled up, and simply enjoy their presence. This experience got me thinking about what makes this season of time so special? Simply.....It is the Tie That Binds!

Frank Crane once shared "What is a friend? I will tell you...it is someone with whom you dare to be yourself." Have you ever wondered why there are those people in your life that are a comfortable fit....just like an old pair of jeans? That person or persons in whom you dare to rip off the mask from which you are hiding and declare with open abandonment......"THIS IS WHO I AM!" The person who values YOU as a person more than they value the relationship itself....that is a real friend. The one who is willing to bump shoulders and knock heads with you. The one that accepts you as a person, even though you might not agree with all of their values. The Book of Ecclesiastes talks about the importance of such people in our lives ...."Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work: If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up! Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken." (Ecclesiastes 4:9-10;12). Who are those persons in your life in which you can say..."You are a real friend!"?

In the gospel of John Jesus shared His perspective on being a friend, "Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you." (John 15:13-15) In the passage Jesus is declaring His disciples His friends. What is essentially important about this passage is Jesus' perspective about YOU! Can Jesus call you His friend? A personal relationship with Jesus Christ is the door to success in every other relationship. There is no way that we can reach our potential in developing relationships with eternal value ,where we can be our true self, if our relationship with God is not right.(John 15:5). Jesus Christ is the third strand....He is the Tie That Binds!