So... no more words from my side and more words from Melina's side. Go enjoy!
At my 60s themed birthday party 2009
How and why has your view on friendship changed over the last years?
What is your perception of it now? What do you expect from your friendships?
A couple of months ago, after listening to Kenneth Copeland's teaching on the blood covenant for some time, the Holy Spirit opened my eyes regarding the kind of friend I had been up until that point. And I am telling you, I got convicted and humbled by a good God who's friendship to us is indescribably pure, authentic and genuine. I learned that "friendship" was a "covenant word" and that its dimension surpassed all human understanding or intellectual approach. I learned that the word "friend" had a much stronger, deeper meaning than what I had thought. I heard about "a friend who sticks closer than a brother" (Proverbs 18,24), I saw Jesus' friendship to me…His truthfulness and faithfulness even in my failure and sin.
A biblical example of a true friendship that can be found in 1 Samuel 18 - David and Jonathan - helped me understand better what it meant to be a friend. I remember my pastor teaching about the pure, brotherly and "unfailing love" (hesed, agape love) those two men had for each other. That kind of love that originates in God's heart - it in fact is God's nature. It's the kind of love that says, "I love you as I love myself". It is a love that caused their "souls to be knit together". Already in chapter 19 of 1 Samuel this kind of love was being tested - in a time of great pressure for David (he was persecuted by Jonathan's father Saul) Jonathan cut a covenant with David promising him to always show unfailing kindness and love (hesed, agape love) to him and his family. From this story I understand that friendship is far more than just walking through life together, sharing moments and thoughts, laughter and tears. It is far stronger than the picture the world is trying to show us in tv shows, music videos and movies. It is the very expression of the Savior's heart as He said, "There is no greater love than to lay down one's life for one's friends." (John 15, 13) It is the unconditional love and faithfulness, the unwavering standing by one's side, lifting up one's head and soul. Barnes' Bible Commentary says it this way: "No higher expression of love could be given. Life is the most valuable object we possess; and when a man is willing to lay that down for his friends or his country, it shows the utmost extent of love. Even this love for friends has been rarely witnessed. (…) It also shows us the extent of his (Christ's) love that he gave himself up, not to common sufferings, but to the most bitter, painful, and protracted sorrows, not for himself, not for friends, but for a thoughtless and unbelieving world. "O Lamb of God, was ever pain was ever love like thine!"
Isn't this just beautiful! I believe we all have to get a new revelation of what friendship really means.
You can already look forward to Part THREE: To lay down your life
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