Tag Archives: support

Feb 4 – That’s What Friends Are For

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Exodus 16-18

Today is “Friends’ Day.” At least that’s what Facebook told me this morning.

I am blessed with many friends. Mom and Dad gave me my four best friends in my sisters. This past summer, we got together with two girls from our old neighborhood. I’ve called these dear women my friends for sixty years! I have friends I went to high school with, friends from college, friends I made at work, at church, on the island where I live, friends of friends.

Thinking about these people this morning makes me thankful. I am truly blessed.

Moses had some good friends, too. You know the story. When Moses raised his hands toward heaven, the Israelite army was successful. When he dropped his arms, the enemy was successful.

Have you ever tried to raise your hands for any length of time without putting them down? It hurts!!!

So Moses’ friends, Aaron and Hur, helped him out. They got under Moses and supported his hands. Lots of imagery here.

Why did God include this account in Scripture? Here’s what I think. God created us to be relational. First, to enjoy a relationship with Him. But also to develop relationships here in this life with the goal of sharing the Gospel.

That’s why it’s important to pick your friends wisely. (You are who your friends are is kinda true) Do you have friends who support you? You need that.

But Moses also had a friend in his father-in-law. Jethro wasn’t afraid to tell Moses when he was wrong. “You’ve taken on too much,” he told Moses. “You are going to burn out. Then what good will you be?”

Reading these verses today in Exodus reminds me that friends are important. We need friends who will support us, to cheer us on, to encourage us. But we also need those friends who will hold us accountable, who aren’t afraid to ask the tough questions, who don’t sit back and watch us crash and burn. We need friends who will pray for and with us.

Because we all have a job to do. We are to be about reaching people in the name of the Lord. May our friends enrich our lives, and give us the push we need to get the job done.

And may we do the same for them.

 

Hard Work and Laughter

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The rebuilding of the wall around Jerusalem is one of my favorite Old Testament accounts. (Nehemiah 3-6) The Jews worked together, each taking a section, and the wall went up in 52 days. I hope they had fun.

When I was a teenager, my family would take part in the semi-annual church clean-up. Like many churches, the members of the fellowship would get together on a Saturday to paint and repair, spring clean and plant flowers around our church property. There were jobs for all of us to do, no matter what age we were. I remember laughter and teasing, a covered dish lunch, the smell of Endust and newly cut grass. We had fun.

Was it like that for the Jews as they worked shoulder to shoulder with their neighbors on rebuilding the wall around Jerusalem? Did they make it a game, a contest to see who could carry the largest boulder? Did they joke with each other? Did they stop for lunch together?

The Bible tells us bullies tried to intimidate them into stopping their work. Did the Jews talk about Sanballat and Tobiah as they took a break from their work in the hot sun over a cool drink of water? Did they encourage one another to ignore the threats? I know they determined to protect each other.

I think this is a picture of what our churches should look like. People working shoulder to shoulder to share Jesus in the neighborhood, encouraging one another, supporting one another.

And having fun doing it.

Does the neighborhood surrounding your church property see a group of people who love one another and who enjoy serving God together? I hope they see a pick-up soccer game in the parking lot once in a while. I hope they hear laughter and occasionally smell the fragrance of hamburgs on the grill. I hope they see a building cared for and loved by the people who call it their church home. And I hope they are drawn to your fellowship because of it.

The Jews rebuilt that wall in 52 days. Pretty amazing. God has amazing things for our church fellowships to do, too. May he find us faithful doing his work with joy.