Christian Youth: The value of friendships

14 Jun, 2015 - 00:06 0 Views

The Sunday Mail

Pastor Tinashe Zinyemba

OUR hearts are with African youths and we pray that God would be gracious and remember us in this hour.

There has been an unusual attack launched against us by the enemy lately. During Easter in Kenya al-Shabab bandits killed up to 150 of our fellow brothers and sisters in the Lord and on June 4 we lost over 150 people to a fire in Accra Ghana.

In Nigeria, Boko Haram has kidnapped and killed numerous Christians, most of them teenagers and young adults.

Let’s take time to pray for Africa this week, hey.

We continue on our journey of relationships. This week we want to talk about friendships. A friend can be described as someone that you know well and regard with affection and trust, an ally and an associate.

It’s funny how sometimes you find yourself closer to your friend than you are to your family members. That’s probably because you chose that person because of one attribute or another as opposed to your family members who are a part of your life by design and not by your choice.

So you made the choice to allow this individual into your life maybe because you have similar interests or because of an event of series of events that you have in common.

Remember a relationship is one whereby you are relating in the same ship. God causes certain people to come into your life sometimes to form a lifetime friendship and for others it is only seasonal but very important for that particular time.

It is important for you to recognise such people and relationships and to take care of them because through that relationship God releases and guides you to fulfilling you destiny.

In Scripture we have several examples of these friendships.

We have David and Jonathan who were of similar age but from totally different backgrounds. One was the son of a king the other the son of a shepherd, yet they formed a strong bond that benefited them both tremendously in an amazing way.

David learnt how to behave and talk like royalty. Jonathan had a true friend who was not into using his position to gain some advantage.

Many years later long after Jonathan had died, David remembered his friend Jonathan and looked for his remaining child, Mephiboseth, and treated him like his own son.

We also have Naomi and Ruth, Mary and Elizabeth, Paul and Timothy, and Mordecai and Esther.

These were all relationships in which one realised the need for the other and they invested in the friendship or mentor-mentee relationship. Through this their destiny was secured.

Key elements of successful friendships are mutual respect and a genuine interest in the growth and prosperity of the other.

Now, I know that there are some friends who can really hurt you because they go behind your back and do things you never thought possible (for example snatch your boyfriend/girlfriend, gossip about you or release sensitive information you told them in confidence).

That is painful, I know. Pick yourself up, learn from the experience, don’t stay bitter, move on and believe God for a better day.

If you know there are friends you have ill-treated do your best to make amends. Simply saying I am sorry can go a long way. Do what it takes to make things right.

Where nothing physical can be done just pray that the damage you caused does not leave a permanent scar.

Invest in relationships through prayer, time, attention, advice and so forth. The benefits are tremendous.

As always more can be said but we stop here for now.

Next week, God willing, we will start on what most people have been waiting to read (deliberately I have taken time to get there).

We will talk about dating or courtship, till next time, God bless.

 

Tinashe Zinyemba is a pastor with New Life Covenant Church. Email feedback at [email protected]

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