Friends - God Knows the Heart, Let Him Guide You To Help Others, Heal YOurself If needed

 In this devotional, a mess of things on friends  - and a wedding feast. Hey, for us guys the idea of the church being the Bride of Christ may feel odd, but at least there’s food involved, right? 😊

Believers will – after the Rapture – experience the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. From a picture of a few dozen different types of potato, to wondering what dinosaur tastes like, I’ve had and seen interesting things that make me look forward to what hta tmight be like. We’ll have the joy of finally being without the sin nature we battle here. Also, we can enjoy being friends with each other and true joy in fellowship with each other.

The Church is called the Bride of Christ. The Bible says the 2 shall be as 1 flesh. This doesn't mean the couple doesn't have their own interests - although usually one person's passion becomes at least an interest of the other. When we love someone, we love to be involved in what they love. This is why a person who is growing in the Lord should start to become interested in at least doing some of what the other does.

Sure, not everyone will give up their lives to be missionaries far away. But they should want others to know the Lord, even if they struggle with reaching out themselves. Not all of us has the skills to just start a conversation. Still others might, but they are scared. Just like if one loves being on the ocean and the other is scared of boats. (Sander was even reluctant to go to an island for their honeymoon. Brenda convinced him to go to Nassau, Bahamas because a James Bond movie was filmed there.) Marriage is working together as a team. It's not just physical attraction. As my niece Gabby wrote as part of her wedding vows: "When we're old and wrinkly, our love will still be brand new."

I know, that's a long intro for a bunch of readers who aren’t even close to thinking about marriage. The point is to help everyone - especially guys - see why it makes sense that we're the Bride of Christ as the Church. After all, Jesus calls believers His friends,and spouses should be great friends, too. Just as Sander let Brenda find a way to go to an island, and Brenda lets Sander turn her from a casual Star Trek fan into a real Trekkie, we let Jesus – since He is perfect, has perfect wisdom about our lives, etc. – mold us into what He wants us to be, because He is our friend; He knows what’s best for us. We serve Him and do Is will because we love Him. We love Him because He first loved us.(1 John 4:19)

I won't get into some of the really cool allusions to a Jewish Wedding. (like the groom showing up unexpectedly to take the bride, just like the Rapture.) I will, however, ask this - how much do you love what God loves? Especially other souls?

Sander is still growing in the Lord. It's still harder for him to witness verbally. However, he knows people need a relationship with Jesus and prays they choose Jesus. Anxiety causes many to avoid doing things.

Some, too, are very private with their spiritual life because of that anxiety. A century ago, it was easier to be silent about one's faith. It was more likely people knew the basics - the ABCs of salvation, as I've shared. That's not true anymore, though. We don't know what others - even in our own family - have been exposed to sometimes. Yes, a kid you don’t know could walk up to you and ask a spiritual question like one did to my friend Don Harmon in Middle School, if you act and love like Jesus did. But, that happened to him almost 45 years ago, so it's far less likely now if we don’t let others know we're available to not only be asked, but to listen. People aren't as outgoing as they were unless they can trust us. They’re liable to just turn to the Internet. And who knows what they’ll find.

(You can direct them to www.godlife.com, where they can ask questions on a secure portal. Explore God is a great site for people who aren’t really thinking about a relationship with God till they have questions answered. Gqkidz.org and 412teens.org are great, too.)

It starts with a decision; a decision to trust Jesus to save you. That's how you become His friend, and He becomes yours. He takes the punishment for your sins on Himself. He takes the whole burden of sin on His shoulders, so there is no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.(Rom. 8:1)

It’s good to know for sure if you stood before God, you trusted Him by faith by calling on Him to save you from your sins, trusting that He took all the punishment you deserve for your sins. It takes longer for some, like intellectuals like Sander. But, that’s where I’ve said, it was fine to pray and just enjoy the friendship, be cause Sander was, at least, curious and accepting of my faith. A friend like that won’t turn you away from Jesus.

He didn’t mind I had Jesus as a friend, after all. But, if someone expects you to turn from Jesus, or wants you to sin, that’s like a petulant friend saying, “I won’t be friends with you because eyou’re friends with him/her.” Or worse, “I’m going to try to break up your marriage.” (Aren’t you thankful nothing can separate you from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord?)(Rom. 8:38-39)

Of course, if a person is being like that, you can still try to be a positive influence. Just make sure you are more of an influence on them.

Remember that we are ambassadors for Christ. As I've said before, an ambassador represents his or her country while in another country. They work out trade deals, make sure the citizens who visit or work there are treated fairly, and other things, like helping to replace lost ID, passports, etc.. There may be people who don’t like the place he or she is from – like say West Germany after WW2. The ambassador had to mend fence, help people see his country wasn’t going to be warlike anymore. They might share about the denazification which went on all throughout German society, for instance.

An ambassador doesn’t go around boasting, "I am a citizen of x." At the same time, they still have to represent X. So, if there are customs that Country Y follows that are against his or her beliefs, they will simply choose not to take part. The citizens of Y should be able to look at the person from X and say, "Hey, that X must be a nice place if all their people are like that." That will bring more business and tourists to X.

Many big countries have an embassy and a consulate in a big city or two. America has one in Lyons, France – at least years ago, it had the same number as my office, just a different country code. I got wrong number calls for there a few times. (Sorry if I told this; think of it as one more way I’m like a grandpa. At least I try to just repeat funny ones.)

The first, I just acted shocked at how far off they were and told them they'd called Ohio. Then, I looked it up so when it happened again a short time later, I called the person back with my cell phone (it was an American number) and told them their mistake. They never replied but I presume they had already realized it.

The last, I was prepared. This kid, high school or early college, asked for the consulate in Lyons. I started laughing, explained what he'd done, and said "Your friends are going to tease you so much at how far off you were!" Of course, it was just a country code, but it was also 4,129 miles off! He was laughing hard by this time, too, and I guessed (correctly) that he was with a school group there. I asked if he knew Jesus, which he did. I also said that that was the best part of human friendship, having stuff like that to joke about.

Back to Sander, running gags, I guess you can call them, where we joke about ourselves and things we've done, and enjoying life in general, are part of friendship. So is being there for each other when we're down. It's all about helping each other.

Sander knew I was a follower of Jesus, and he respected that I did things differently. Granted, some the things I did, he did for different reasons. (Like he never drank, smoked, etc., because they didn't make sense to keep a healthy body. I always avoided them since I believe God gave me this body and I shouldn't mess it up.) As you know, it's when I broke my leg that he really began to see the power of prayer, the power of God, and ultimately his need to trust Jesus to save him. I didn’t have to be as direct. Jesus will show you, through the Holy Spirit, when you need to be more direct with a friend.

Sometimes, we meet kids at school who need to be told, in love, that they risk messing up their lives,and that we're warning them because we care about them. Other times, we can afford to wait and just have fun and joke around; as long as we remember to receive the jokes with love, knowing that we're not perfect. Sure, that kid laughed when I said his friends were going to tease him. He had a healthy friendship with the others on that trip. He knew that was just part of the fun of being friends, having fun with all the little things we do.

Just remember to be an ambassador, too. One big breakthrough I saw as Sander started to be ready to come to faith was when - a few years after I broke my leg - his mom was really sick and he asked me to pray for her. No prodding from me, just asking out of the blue. (She had anemia; she recovered and at 90 walks a mile a day.) If he hadn't known about my faith, or if I hadn't offered to pray with him at other times, he would never have had that chance; he never would have thought about it. It wasn't just about my breaking my leg and the faith I had when recovering. It was a series of things.

Some will be ready to come to Christ right away. Others take time. But, unless they're tearing you down or pulling you away from God, keep at it with them. And if they are a negative influence, back away but tell them the door is always open for them. And, be humble and willing to admit when you have messed up, too. Because it's up to us to be the light and salt of the earth in a lost and dying world.

And, even with those who have been harmed so much, God will give them strength. I said to pray for our campers and staff, and mentioned that it was possible some children who had been treated horribly would be out there. I heard - courtesy of a relative of this child -  that one victim of abuse got saved the first Middle School week and went back for the 2nd one. Keep praying for the young teen to grow in the Lord and whatever else the Lord lays on your heart to pray for in the situation.