I have always been competitive. For as long as I can remember, I have wanted to be the best and strived to do better. Give me a game and I’ll try to win it. Give me a challenge and I’ll try to figure it out. That’s just the way God has wired me. And so when it came to friends, my challenge was always to find a more popular friend.
If a friend liked me and wanted to hang out, I was excited. However, I was always very cautious about not hanging around the people who might make me not look as good. In hindsight, I realized that in my need to be more popular, I missed out on a lot of great friends.
Today’s Truth – Choose Friends That Choose You
My whole life, I’ve constantly tried to pursue friends that didn’t really care about me. I wanted to have a more popular friend so I’d try to hang out with people that were more popular than I was. What I didn’t realize I was doing was turning my back on some great friendships in the process.
Often, I’d try to be friends with people that didn’t really care about me. Yeah, they were nice and fun people, but deep down they didn’t really care about me.
I’ve come to realize that instead of pursuing popularity, I should be pursuing relationships with people who care about me.
A friend is always loyal, and a brother is born to help in time of need. – Proverbs 17:17 (NLT)
God wants us to have good relationships with others. But if you’re constantly pursuing relationships that aren’t healthy or with others who don’t really care about you, you’re always going to be disappointed. Instead, decide to pursue relationships with people who like you for you.
You’ll be much happier and you’ll find relationships that fulfill you and truly last!
If you’d like to follow along with this week’s devotions on friendship, you can download a PDF copy here.
- Day 2 – Avoid Friends That Make You Compromise
Your friends make a huge impact on your life. If you want to really live for God and accomplish big things, you will have to avoid friends that make you compromise. - Day 3 – Be Friendly & Treat Others Well
Being nice goes a long way toward having good relationships with others. Treating others well helps others want to be around you. - Day 4 – Have Friends That Motivate You To Do Better
Finding good friends with good habits can be very helpful. Friends that are successful in an area you’d like to grow in can really push you on to success in that area too.
