I have two favourite songs about friendship. The first is James Taylor’s classic, “You’ve got a friend.” If you haven’t listened to it for a while, you might enjoy hearing it again. I’m drawn in by the promise he makes in the chorus:
“You just call out my name and you know wherever I am, I’ll come running to see you again.
Winter, spring, summer, or fall, all you’ve got to do is call, and I’ll be there—you’ve got a friend.”
All of us long for that kind of friend. One who is willing and able to show up whenever we call.
The trouble is, no one can be that kind of friend. No friend of ours can truly promise to come whenever we call. All our friends, even the best of them, are limited in their availability and ability to help us.
Actually, there is One friend who can honestly make that promise to be there for us all the time. I suspect you know which Friend I’m talking about. Jesus is the truest of friends.
Jesus promises to “never leave us or forsake us” (Hebrews 13:5). He loves us like no other friend can, proving His love by laying down His life. As He told His first disciples, “Greater love has no one that this, that someone lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). And He demonstrated His love by dying for us “while we still sinners” (Romans 5:8). Because He loves us, He not only sticks with us but also sticks it to us. He tells us the truth about ourselves, even when it hurts to hear: “apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5).
I told you have I two favourite songs about friendship. The second, and more significant, is “What a friend we have in Jesus.” Here are the lyrics to the opening verse.
What a friend we have in Jesus,
all our sins and griefs to bear,
what a privilege to carry,
everything to God in prayer.
If you’ve never entered an eternal friendship with Jesus, the Truest of all friends, you can do so today by confessing your need for His forgiveness and trusting Him as your Lord and Leader. He’s the Friend you need most! He’s only a prayer away.
Rick and Linda Reed 