Friends Archives

Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints. Eileen Lawyer’s death was precious to us as well. She taught us how to live, and she has taught us how to die.

What did she teach us about living? Eileen taught us to give ourselves away. She was a devoted wife, and signed all her emails with “Eileen Lawyer, treasured wife of Mike Lawyer.” Her identity was first in Christ, and then joyfully wrapped up in her husband and daughter. What Mike was doing, Eileen was doing alongside. How Rachel was doing was always a chief concern.

During her life, Eileen was always a picture of health: energetic and cheerful. None of us was expecting her to be taken away so suddenly by cancer. But we learned from her during her wise stewardship of this hardship. She continued to be devoted to others, always considerate and grateful. Doug conducted a small worship service around her bed a few days before her passing. Even there, she was thanking everyone for coming, and I will never forget how determined she was to take the Lord’s Supper, embracing the difficulty of eating the bread and drinking the wine. She wanted all of Christ.

The cross stitch above is a gift Eileen made for us many years ago. And how appropriate is this verse now as ever. God has shown Eileen the path of life, and now she has entered into His presence in fulness of joy. We will miss her. No one can fill her shoes. But that is how it should be. In the missing, we will continue to thank God for her, a dear sister and friend.

Navigating friendships can be challenging, even for little people like my granddaughters! They are so cute, what could ever go wrong? But even the sweetest little friendships need oversight if we want them to blossom into lasting friendships.

Of course the Bible has plenty to say on the qualities of a friend, and our children need to grow up understanding these basic principles. As in everything, before we can teach them and guide them, we have to know and do this ourselves.

But let’s back up and start at the beginning. What is a friend? Here’s what the dictionary offers: A friend is a trusted companion for whom you have mutual affection, who is a source of joy, and whose company is a pleasure. That’s a pretty good place to start.

Let’s consider the kind of friends Jesus had. Among his many followers, he chose His twelve disciples, whom He called His friends: “My friends, do not be afraid of those who can kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do.” (Luke 12:4). Of the twelve, He had his three special friends, Peter, James, and John. And of those three, John was “the disciple whom Jesus loved” (John 13:23; 21:20).

But Matthew 11:19 says that Jesus was also “a friend of tax collectors and sinners.” He did not limit His friendship to only His disciples, but He had different levels of friendships: close, closer, and closest. From this we can see that it is only natural for us to have dear friends, close friends, and friends who are acquaintances. Because we are finite, it’s obvious that we cannot have an infinite number of friends, no matter what Facebook might lead us to believe.

Not only did Jesus, the Son of God, have friends, but the Bible teaches that God was a friend to Moses and to Abraham. “So the Lord spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend” (Exodus 33:11).
“‘Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.’ And he was called the friend of God” (James 2:23).

To be a good and godly friend to others, we must first be friends with God. His friendship is obviously the most important one. Jesus is the best kind of friend we can have. He will never leave us or forsake us (Heb. 13:5). He has made a covenant with us. He has given us His Word, our covenant book. He has given us many precious promises. He has given us the Holy Spirit. He is particular about His friends in one way (He died for us), but He is inclusive in another way (we were all sinners). Read More

Category Archives: Friends

Dying Well

Friends