I’m not a great person to write this. I spend more time trying not to drag my friends down than building them up. I’m not confident in my value as a friend. But maybe you aren’t either. 

So what can we do?

This isn’t about our value as people. It never will be. The cross is about our value as people and there is nothing else more powerful. 

This isn’t about being the friend you want to have, this is about being a friend. Period.

I saved some phrases the people around me said about friendship recently. Their random comments really got me thinking. 

A good deep friend is…

• A ray of hope.
•  A listening ear.
• Loyal.
• Rejuvenating to be around.
• A friend is someone who points you to Jesus.

These are NOT requirements for being a friend. A good friend is not perfect. Read that one again. A good friend is not perfect.

A good friend is not perfect.

You’re already a friend to someone. If you’re a Christian too, Jesus literally lives inside you. He is the ray of hope already inside you, already shining to the people you interact with.

Sometimes I don’t act like a ray of hope. We’re all human after all. 

Then what?

We try to love our friends like God loves them.

We try to love our friends like God loves them.

When you’re hurting, when a friend ditches you, when you’re bored (read this post by my friend Bekah for some other fun boredom breakers)…you can be a ray of hope.

Just ask God to show you His love for your friends and help you to treat them the way that He wants.

Before we discuss practical ideas, we need disclaimers. 

1. We can’t take God’s place. We’re just copying Him.
2. Boundaries are still necessary. God doesn’t need boundaries because He’s infinite and perfect. All us humans have limitations and it’s healthy to know them. Example: if I’m incredibly overwhelmed and a friend needs advice, I should send them to someone else. I give awful advice when I’m overwhelmed. 

A few ways to shower our friends with hope and love:

• Ask how their day is going.
• Give them a random gift.
• Share the Bible Gateway verse of the day.
• Mimicry is the highest form of flattery. It can also make your friends laugh. I copied my friend’s Starbucks order today, but it could also be really fun to dress like one of my friends someday and see if they notice…. 😉
• Help them with something (seriously, we should fold laundry and run errands with our friends more often).
• Grow your relationship with God. I have a theory about this one: when both people in a relationship spend more time with God than each other, it sweetens the time they spend together.

Pick one of these and do it for a friend this week! Choose to be a ray of hope. You won’t regret it. 😉