Good morning:
If you subscribe to an online streaming service, you’re familiar with the limits that go along with it. You might be allowed to connect with only one device at a time. Unless you pay extra for the premium level, you may have your movies interrupted with frequent commercials. You are likely not able to share the service with people outside your home.
Friendships sometimes work the same way. You may have a friend at work who makes it clear that they are not interested in getting together socially. A friend moves across country and you gradually lose touch with them. Someone else becomes uncomfortable because of a difficult situation which arises in your life. Our human nature often sets limits on friendship.
But Proverbs 18:24 says, “There is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.” The Lord tells us, “I have loved you with an everlasting love” (Jer. 31:3). God’s love is boundless and unlimited. It is more than enough to cover all the faults and failings, not only of yesterday and this entire week, but the sins of a lifetime. Although we have shown ourselves to be unreliable and fickle friends toward the Lord, he doesn’t cancel his friendship with us. The prophet Micah praised God, “You do not stay angry forever but delight to show mercy…You will tread our sins underfoot and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea” (Micah 7:18-19). Jesus told the disciples, “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends” (Jn. 15:13). Jesus laid down his life for us too. He calls us his friends.
The Lord’s friendship is unlimited and all-inclusive. There is nothing about your life that is unimportant in his eyes. There is no problem or trouble beyond his ability to provide help. He promises, “Call on me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor me” (Ps. 50:15). Nothing is too minor for his notice. Incredibly, each and every hair on your head matters to him.
We don’t know what the day holds in store, but with Jesus’ friendship, we can look forward to it, confident that it will be filled with His blessings. May he also grant us opportunities every day to show his unlimited love in friendship toward the people in our lives.
Yours in Christ,
Pastor
