friendship

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 more devotions on friendship, you can purchase “Every Teenager’s Guide to Successful Friendships” here.

A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for a difficult time.  – Proverbs 17:17 (HCSB)

Do you ever find that it’s hard to be a good friend? Yesterday, I was stressed out and tired from the day’s activities and I didn’t want to do anything but go home and go to bed.

However, I had a friend in need. As much as I wanted to ignore this friend, I remembered this Bible verse. A friend loves at all times. A friend doesn’t just love when it’s convenient. A true friend is there, even when it’s hard.

Today’s Truth: A true friend loves, even when it’s hard.

So I set aside my desire for sleep and took a few minutes to listen to my friend. A true friend loves when things are tough and when it isn’t always easy. So challenge yourself today to be there for the people around you and show them the love of Jesus. Challenge yourself to push past what seems comfortable and to really be there for your friends. You’ll be surprised at how good you feel when you do.

Do you want to be someone that others remember? Is your desire to impact your school and your world for Jesus? If we’re honest, most of us feel like we want our lives to make a difference. We want to be remembered for doing something that helped other people.

To do those things, you’ve got to begin to develop certain habits. One great habit to develop in your life is to think of ways to give to others.

Today’s Challenge: How Can I give to others?

When you give to others, you become a person that others want to be around. Instead of always hogging the conversation, and taking from others, look for opportunities to help them.

For example, you might be able to buy a friend something to drink from the vending machine. Perhaps you can encourage a friend that is having a bad day. Challenge yourself to look for ways to give into the lives of others.

When you become a giver, not only will others enjoy being around you more, but you’ll feel more fulfilled. You’ll also be happier because you’ve gotten outside of yourself and looked for ways to help others.

A generous person will prosper; whoever refreshes others will be refreshed. – Proverbs 11:25 (NIV)

Every Teenager’s Guide to Successful Friendships

For more tips on friendships, check out our 10-day devotion. It offers practical advice on friendships, scriptures to grow your faith, and lots more.

In middle school, I had a group of friends that weren’t always the best influence. They pushed me to do things that I probably wouldn’t have done on my own. And while I didn’t get into major trouble, I did cross some lines that I probably wouldn’t have had I not been hanging out with those friends.

The truth is your friendships matter.

Your friends are helping steer your life. They are pushing you in a direction. The question is, do you like the direction you’re headed?

Today’s Truth – The friends you make today direct your future.

Today’s Bible verse shows us that you can learn things from your friends. And if you’re not careful, those things can ensnare you.

Do not make friends with a hot-tempered person, do not associate with one easily angered, or you may learn their ways and get yourself ensnared. – Proverbs 22:24-25 (NIV)

So today, take a close look at your friends. Where is their influence pushing you? Is it pushing you toward the person you want to be five years from now? If not, consider distancing yourself from those friends. The friends you make today set you up for success or failure in the future.

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Want to grow in your relationships? Do you wish you had better relationships? This 5-day devotion is packed with great content to help you be a better friend and you will learn how to better your relationships!

I remember one of the first times I hung out with someone who is now one of my really good friends. The first time we hung out it was honestly kind of awkward.

We didn’t have that much fun and at times, it was a struggle to think of things to talk about.

However, we didn’t give up and hung out another time. Now the rest is history and we are great friends. The key to remember in all friendships is that sometimes they take work.

Today’s Key – Friendships sometimes take work.

You might be having fun and then run into a roadblock. You might think what do I do? How do I move past this and still be friends?

Do to others as you would like them to do to you – Luke 6:31

And while sometimes there are reasons to end a relationship, many times, we just don’t invest the effort because we feel like it’s too much work. Lasting friendships do take some work, forgiveness, and grace.

So today, don’t give up on your relationships. Sometimes it takes work to find a friend you click with. Other times it takes work to stay friends with someone when you’ve hit a relationship roadblock. However, lasting relationships take work.

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Want to grow in your relationships? Do you wish you had better relationships? This 5-day devotion is packed with great content to help you be a better friend and you will learn how to rock your relationships!

Listen to advice and accept discipline, and at the end you will be counted among the wise. – Proverbs 19:20 (NIV)

If you want to be successful, it’s always good to find friends that are wise. Often, that might mean that you will have some friends that are a variety of ages.

For example, if you want career advice, make friends with someone who has a successful career. Then ask them questions and advice to find out what they did to become successful.

If you need help growing spiritually, ask a youth leader or friend who has a solid relationship with God for help. They have been there before and can help you get to where you want to go.

Today’s Key: Have Wise Friends

Having wise friends is important. They can help guide you when you don’t know what to do. Wise friends also can keep you on track when things are hard and help you see blind spots in your life.

Don’t discount how far wise friends will take you. If you haven’t yet, decide to look for relationships with wise people. You’ll be more successful if you do!

If you’d like to follow along with a PDF copy of this week’s study on friendships you can download your copy here!

Do to others as you would like them to do to you. – Luke 6:31 (NLT)

It can be easy to feel like others don’t understand you. Maybe you feel like your friends just don’t understand what you’re going through. Perhaps you feel like everyone at your school just doesn’t get you.

There are going to be times in your life where you feel like you’re misunderstood.

Read: Help No One Gets Me

The key in the middle of all of those feelings is to make sure that you’re still treating others well. It can be easy if people don’t treat you right to want to retaliate or to hurt others. However, today’s Bible verse challenges us to treat others how you’d want to be treated.

If you’d like to be treated nice, then treat others nice. If you feel left out, look for someone to include.

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Today’s Key – 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.

If you feel like you don’t have any friends, ask yourself this: Am I doing anything to push others away?

It can be easy if you’ve been hurt to not be nice or hog all the attention. However, these things may push away other potential friends. So if you’ve noticed that people don’t want to hang out with you, take an honest look at how you treat others.

Look for opportunities to help and befriend others. You’ll be glad you did.

If you’d like to follow along with this week’s devotions on friendship, you can download a PDF copy here.

This week’s devotions:

• Day 1 – Choose Friends That Choose You
  Instead of pursuing popularity, pursue relationships with people who care about you.
• 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.

Do not be misled: “Bad company corrupts good character.” – 1 Corinthians 15:33 (NIV)

Have you noticed who you hang out with makes a big difference? I had a friend that used to swear all the time. Every other word was a bad word. I noticed that after I hung out with this friend for a while, I was starting to swear more.

It’s amazing the influence our friends have on our lives.

Today’s Key – Avoid Friends That Make You Compromise

Who you spend time with is important. Your friends influence the way you think, your decisions, and even sometimes what you do.

If you’ve got some friends that push you to do things that are wrong, consider distancing yourself from those friends. Maybe when you’re around them you’re more likely to make bad choices or bully others. Realize this and choose to limit time with those people.

Read: Why You Shouldn’t Compromise, Even In The Smallest Ways

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.

This isn’t to say that you can’t be friendly to those people, but rather your time with them should be limited. If you know they’re going to influence you to do and say things that you don’t want to do, avoid hanging out with them all the time.

Challenge yourself to avoid friends that make you compromise.

If you’d like to follow along with this week’s devotions on friendship, you can download a PDF copy here.

This week’s devotions:

• Day 1 – Choose Friends That Choose You
  Instead of pursuing popularity, pursue relationships with people who care about you.
• 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.