Who you are associated with paints the picture of who you are. Do you have “yes” friends or will your friends keep you accountable? Do your friends help you stay saved or help you destroy your life?

Your circle of friends does not have to be large. Your friends should motivate and inspire you to stay on the straight and narrow. I believe this: any friend that has become an enemy has been hating from day 1.

I’m Just Saying…

I love how the Bible gives us examples of everything we will encounter in this life. Look at this story of true friendship. In Mark the 2^nd chapter, there was a man who was paralyzed. Maybe he had heard of Jesus and the healing He was doing all over the land. Maybe he confided in his friends: “If I could only get to where Jesus is.” Maybe his friends had heard that Jesus would be near and wanted to give their friend a fighting chance. I do not know and for this devotion, it does not really matter. What matters is they wanted better for their friend. They had seen his struggles. They knew his life story. They knew how challenging life had become for him.

What is so amazing is the desperate faith of the paralytic man’s friends.

1. The 4 men carried their friend to where Jesus was.
2. When they could not get close enough to Jesus because of the crowd, they removed the roof to get to Jesus.
3. Then the 4 of them let their friend down.

Because of the faith of his friends, Jesus heals the paralytic man and He receives salvation.

Mark 2:3-5
Then they came to Him, bringing a paralytic who was carried by four men. And when they could not come near Him because of the crowd, they uncovered the roof where He was. So when they had broken through, they let down the bed on which the paralytic was lying. When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven you.”

What lengths have you gone through, to introduce Jesus to your closest friends? Are they convincing you to follow them or can you convince them to follow you? Do they even see your faith? Do they have a respect for your faith – not to approach you with anything contrary to the word of God?

If you don’t have that type of friend and you are still searching, take a look in the mirror. It begins with you! What are you seeking after? Is your salvation so common that the power holds no value in your life? How desperate are you to see the salvation of Christ is presented to all that you are connected with?

2 Corinthians 3:18 (CEB)
All of us are looking with unveiled faces at the glory of the Lord as if we were looking in a mirror. We are being transformed into that same image from one degree of glory to the next degree of glory. This comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.