Over the past year I have learned a lot about what it means to lay down relationships that aren’t producing good fruit in my life. Most of my life I have just drifted from one friend group to the next. Not because I enjoyed their company, but because I just wanted to feel like I fit in somewhere. It’s crazy to think about how much time I have spent tirelessly chasing after the approval of others. And because of that I made many bad decisions, that led me down very rocky roads. The consequences of that behavior for me resulted in drug and alcohol abuse. It makes me sad to think about all the time I wasted on things that in the end produced nothing but heartache and pain in my life. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been to the funeral of someone that I knew because they overdosed on drugs. Mostly kids in their early 20s. I’ve noticed that if we take God out of the relationship we tend to just chase after people that like to do the same things we do. And in my case that would be drinking and drug use. I compromised on what I knew to be right, simply because it was what everyone else what doing.
Since coming home from the Worldrace however, God has changed my thoughts on friendship as well as shown me what friendship can look like through pursuit of Christ as the center. It’s amazing the things God will do when we follow after him in surrender.
Pursuing Godly friendship means spending more time investing in those relationships that do bring you closer to God. In the end, a true friend brings you closer to God. They know when to lift you up and when to gently discourage you from making a poor choice. Their honesty and loyalty will keep them close.
Friendship is truly one of the greatest gifts in life. In our friends we find trusted companions who know us and love us for who we are, no matter what. Friendship can also be challenging and messy, as it takes a lot of work to keep relationships with friends happy and healthy, but our friends are the people who get us through rough times, the people who very often come to us with compassion.
Proverbs 18:24
“One who has unreliable friends soon comes to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.”
Proverbs 17:17
“A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for a time of adversity.”
John 15:12-13
“My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”
Psalm 133:1
“Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity!”
Romans 12:10
“Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor.”
I want to honor a friend through this blog, I wouldn’t be the person I am today without his prayer and pursuit of a Godly relationship.
John Sanchez has shown my what it looks like to love others well. I’m so grateful for that our paths crossed on the Worldrace and that God knew what He was going to eventually do in our relationship. He’s given me a clear example of what it looks like to be a brother and blessed to call him my best friend.
He constantly challenges me to be a better brother and friend. He has shown me what it means to be excepted, as well as encourages me to grow in my faith. He always strives to show me what it means to be excepted not just as part of his family but also the family of God. I’m extremely blessed going to Miami every month! I get to see the fruit of what God is doing in his life through the ministry that he is walking. I’m 32 years old and I’ve always wanted a brother that I can turn to. Not just in times of joy but also in times of need. And God has blessed me with that through John and his family. He is a constant source of encouragement and drives me to be a better friend towards others. I couldn’t have cultivated this type of relationship even if I had asked for it. I wouldn’t even have known what to ask for in regards to something like this. God has truly blessed me and my friendship with John and has shown me so much of what sacrificial love looks like through John. The fathers heart is a deep well for all those that drink from it. I feel kind of weird writing this blog but unashamed nonetheless. John has strived for himself to seek after the will of God in his life and the purpose that he was created for. And by the obedience that he walks in I am constantly blessed because of it. I have become a better Brother in Christ by the example that John continuously sets for me in our friendship as well the other relationships in his life. Johns heart is for people to know the fathers heart. As we reflect more of the Father’s heart in our own lives, by nature those around us see the love of the Father and experience His grace.
John and I have had some severe conflict in our brother-ship. But the Lord has driven us to love in spite. I’ve learned to show more grace and forgiveness towards not just John but others as well. proverbs 17:17 a friend loves at all times but a brother is born for adversity! John made a covenant with me and invited me to be apart of his family. I so grateful to see how awesome the Sanchez family really is! And God knew that for me to be able to fulfill the purpose His design for me, I needed a friend like John! In conclusion, my friendship with John has caused me to see after a deeper relationship with Jesus!
It’s amazing to think about how much God truly cares for us! He cares about our happiness and He desires that our desires line up with His. And whenever we are loving each other from a place of Christ like affection, we are honoring the Father and saying that “Yes God, your ways of love are better”
The fathers love is better then what we can cultivate on our own. And as we exemplify 1st Corinthians 13 and what Paul says love is, we begin to understand the depths of love that Christ shed for us when he bore His cross. John, thanks for being a friend to me!
Reach out to those that you care about! let them know, you never know the way you might change someone’s day!
