Thankful For Friends

 Philippians 1:3

3 I thank my God upon every remembrance of you,

Thanksgiving time is here, and across our country, preachers are preaching sermons pointing out the need for Christ-followers to be thankful people. As a preacher, I’ve made impassioned pleas for Christ-followers to rise above our culture… to resist the temptation for the holiday season to be simply another opportunity for us to be self-focused and self-indulgent. Thanksgiving isn’t just about eating to the brink of explosion; shopping to the brink of bankruptcy; watching television to the brink of insanity. I’ve tried to make the point that Thanksgiving for a person who loves God can be so much more.

Even so, I discovered in my own life that despite what I’ve preached, I have missed a crucial element in the process of being a thankful follower of Jesus in my own life. I found that over the years I have been mostly thankful for the THINGS in my life; for food, finances, the house I have lived in, the clothes I have worn, and so on. While there’s nothing wrong with being thankful for these things, I have missed the boat on giving thanks for the biggest blessings of God in my life… FRIENDS.

Consider how empty, purposeless, and meaningless our lives would be without relationships. Relationships have shaped who we are and who we are becoming. Without exception, everyone I know has been positively influenced by other people. While it is easy to thank God for the THINGS in our lives, we should remember to be equally thankful for the FRIENDS God has placed in our lives as well!

I am so thankful for many of you that I call friends.  Many of you read this devotional due to me sharing it on my social media accounts.  One’s that consist mainly of my friends.

I want us to remember and be thankful for our greatest friend though, Jesus Christ.  

John 15:13-15 says,  13 Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends. 14 You are My friends if you do whatever I command you. 15 No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you.

So, in this month of thanksgiving, let us be thankful to God for giving us our friends and our greatest friend, Jesus Christ.

How about you? Who do you thank God for? Today, take a few moments and thank God for the relationships in your life. Truthfully, it can revolutionize your life. 


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