Friends and Keeping it Simple

Jesus,

I love you. May you be my northern star. May you be my guiding light. There are so many decisions to make each day, and often the ones that seem least important are the ones that can lead us down a disastrous road. I beg of you will lord to send the sufficient grace to all your believers this day, that we may see your way, that we may see your will and that we may follow your path so that we may come home to you in heaven and have happiness in this life.

In Jesus Christ name I pray,

Amen.

Galatians 2:1-2, 7-14

Brothers and sisters: After fourteen years I again went up to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus along also. I went up in accord with a revelation, and I presented to them the Gospel that I preach to the Gentiles– but privately to those of repute– so that I might not be running, or have run, in vain. On the contrary, when they saw that I had been entrusted with the Gospel to the uncircumcised, just as Peter to the circumcised, for the one who worked in Peter for an apostolate to the circumcised worked also in me for the Gentiles, and when they recognized the grace bestowed upon me, James and Cephas and John, who were reputed to be pillars, gave me and Barnabas their right hands in partnership, that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised. Only, we were to be mindful of the poor, which is the very thing I was eager to do. And when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face because he clearly was wrong. For, until some people came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles; but when they came, he began to draw back and separated himself, because he was afraid of the circumcised. And the rest of the Jews acted hypocritically along with him, with the result that even Barnabas was carried away by their hypocrisy. But when I saw that they were not on the right road in line with the truth of the Gospel, I said to Cephas in front of all, "If you, though a Jew, are living like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you compel the Gentiles to live like Jews?"

One thing that is truly invaluable in life is a good friend. A good friend can help you stay out of trouble. A Good friend will be that person who calls you out when you need to hear the hard truth. Reading these lines from Galatians I am thankful that I have a friend such is Paul in this life. The world is constantly spinning, and I don't just mean on its axis. Many don't like to speak or think of the devil but he's out there and he's always spending away to suck you into a vortex that will pull you straight to hell. Having a good friend to help keep your sites fixed on what is right and true. But that's just it you need to have a good friend. So one might ask what makes a good friend? Well there are many things you could say, personally for me, I would have to say that they would need to be a person of strong faith. If you are man (or woman) trying to live God's will and your best friend has no faith, then by no fault of their own will they lead you away from your faith, either out of malice or out of ignorance. Here you can see that Peter the leader of the early Christian church even needed a best friend to help him see gods will. We all need to come to the realization that We are all flawed, and personally I think that's of God's design. The more I study God's way it seems to me that he wants Community. Even God himself is one God in three persons. God himself is a community. Therefore it's my belief that God has this flawed so that not only do we need him but we need each other. For God is love, and love is for a relationship, how loving can we be if we were made be standalone individuals that needed no one else? Would we even need God? Sure sometimes my flaws and my shortcomings embarrass me, but I am thankful for my weaknesses for they allow me to have God, who is love, in my life as well as others. So as you examine you're various acquaintances, if you do not find one that is righteous, true and has strong faith, I would recommend finding one and making a strong friendship with that person. Sometimes that person can be the least likely individual you would choose for in a friend. But it's funny, God works that way, he often gifts us with the most unlikely of things/ people.

Luke 11:1-4

Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he had finished, one of his disciples said to him, "Lord, teach us to pray just as John taught his disciples." He said to them, "When you pray, say: Father, hallowed be your name, your Kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread and forgive us our sins for we ourselves forgive everyone in debt to us, and do not subject us to the final test."

I absolutely love Jesus's simplicity. Having been a Christian for a little while now and knowing many Christians during my entire life, it's interesting how many great speakers I've heard pray. It's interesting because of how they pray. There have been prayers I've heard that is seemed like absolute literary perfection. A great speaker with good words can move not just mountains but the heart and mind. Sometimes though, people as we are flawed, try to hard. The disciples asked Jesus how to pray, and this was his response. I love the simplicity. Two mere sentences wrap up how we should speak to God. Sure the words are few, but they are oh so powerful. Some might expect Jesus the carry-on for maybe a couple of pages in his prayer. But here we see Jesus, who is God, reveal to us that we don't need a bunch of fancy words and blow a bunch of air. We but merely need to open our hearts and speak plainly. We do not need to worry ourselves with the future, but to ask for what we desire in this day and for forgiveness of things we have done in our past. It's quite fitting don't you think? The Lords prayer being so simple, for after all the Lords motives are quite simple in themselves. God loves us. He wants us to choose his path so that he may enjoy our company for an eternity in heaven.

And that's all I got to say about that.