Living in 3D:
Develop Friendships – Part 2
Scripture Reading: Acts 2:38-45
Key Verse: Acts 2:46-47
Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.
Our scripture for these first three devotionals in this section remind us that new people were being saved in the early church. The Lord was at the business of “adding new people” as they were being saved. Every Christ follower I know loves the thought of being used by God to help someone far from God come closer! It’s part of the new DNA that God puts in us when we are saved.
I think it’s good to have at least a yearly emphasis on developing new friendships. Our lives are so busy that to put proper time and energy into this, it won’t be much more than a yearly effort. It should also be noted that the friendships may not—probably won’t—take on the same warmth and closeness of friendships within our church family. It’s impossible to develop deep, warm friendships when our passions for God and His kingdom aren’t a common thing.
The friendships we are talking about in this study are friendships that display to a lost person God’s love and kindness. They are friendships that can lead (not push) a lost person into a new world of kingdom values. We want them to be around us enough to see the difference Christ makes in a person’s life! We don’t have to be best buddies to be an example of God’s grace. Our goal is for them to ask questions that open doors to share God’s answers.
Father, open my eyes to people around me that I can be a friend on purpose and with a purpose. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.