New Hope (Part 1) – Day 4

The gunfire still sounded in the distance when the soldier came to the lieutenant. “Lieutenant,” he started, “my friend has not returned to camp from the battle zone. I think he has been wounded. I ask for permission to go fetch him.”

“Request denied, soldier,” the lieutenant shouted, without a second thought about the request. He did not want more of his soldiers to endanger their lives, unnecessarily. In addition, the chances that the soldier who was not in camp was still alive, was very slim.

The soldier, however, disobeyed the lieutenant’s order and ran back to the battlefield to fetch his friend. On the way back, with his friend’s body in his arms, he was badly wounded. The lieutenant was furious. “I told you your friend is dead. Now I’ve lost you both!” He continued with more compassion. “Tell me, was it worth it to risk your life to bring back a corpse?”

“Oh yes, lieutenant,” the dying man said with a weak smile. “When I arrived at my friend, he was still alive. When I bent down next to him, he told me, ‘I knew you would come.’ ”

Are you a friend that others can rely upon? Do you cherish your friendships? In Proverbs 18:24 we read: There are ‘friends’ who destroy each other, but a real friend sticks closer than a brother. And in John 15:12-13, Jesus said: “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”

Let us make this year a year in which we no longer isolate ourselves, but cherish our friendships. Let us choose friends who have a positive influence on our lives. You may be amazed at how much God can accomplish in other people’s lives through you, but also how he can demonstrate his love to you through good friends in your life! God bless.