The Greatest Friend

(This post was written by Lady Imagawa.)

I want to talk to you about who we could consider to be our greatest friend. What are the traits that someone has whom you would consider a great friend?
Here are some of the many traits:

- You can trust them.
- They live with integrity.
- “Dependability” is their middle name.
- They're loyal.
- They have empathy for others.
- They're good listeners.
- Their confidence is contagious.
- Spending time with them makes you feel good.

All these are indeed someone we would want to be friends with, but Jesus exemplified the concept of friendship while here on earth. When Jesus lived amongst His disciples, He was more like a friend to them than a Master. He never claimed supremacy over them, but always treated them with love and respect. He always gives more than He would receive. He even gave us His life so that He could save us from our sins. He took the wrath that we deserve so that we can experience God's mercy and grace. Jesus was punished so that we could be free.

That is one of the many reasons we belong to a church so we can be reminded every time of what Jesus did for us. We want to be a great friend to someone, just like Jesus is to us. We want to be more like Jesus everyday. We want to empower each other so we can pursue God.

Isn’t it a great feeling doing this together?

This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. (1 John 3:16)