Day 147: A List of Friends

Romans 16; 2 Samuel 1; Psalm 72

In chapter 16, I can't help but be reminded of my brother.  Here's Paul, finishing up his letter, and he wants to send a few "hey, what's ups?" to his friends.  So he starts mentioning some of his closest friends, then remembers this good friend, and he was pretty cool, and she helped out a ton, and they worked with me on that...pretty soon, it is a chapter of its own! Paul must have been a man who cultivated friendships well, of which my brother is very similar.  My favorite sibling is one who loves everyone, all people, no matter what.  He doesn't judge them but simply cares about them and treats them that way. It is so awesome. We could go just about anywhere in the town we grew up in and he would see someone he knew and they were friends.  I'm a little more shy (believe it or not) and tend to cultivate a few close friends and stick with them.  But, God calls us to make an impact on the world, more than just our little world, but all over the place.  Have we told our close friends about Jesus? Have we reached beyond our comfort zone to spread the good news?  Have we tried to connect with people we don't know in order to love on them?  Those are things my brother is awesome at, and something I definitely need to work on.

At the end of this chapter, Paul makes a couple of interesting statements.  First, he says to watch out for false teachings and those that just want to give themselves honor.  They flatter people, lie, and speak with great skills and many are sucked in to their lies. Knowing the Bible will help us to not be fooled by inaccurate and misleading teachings.  Second, Paul writes that God will soon crush Satan "under your feet." What stands out is the use of the pronoun "your." You mean me? Under my feet?  Wow, that's cool.  That I will have the power from The Lord to crush the prince of evil under me.  I won't have to suffer in sinfulness, but God will crush him under my feet.  And finally, it says that God can make us strong by means of the good news about Jesus.  The Good News About Jesus:  it does have the power to strengthen, to give hope, to provide peace.  There is nothing better than Jesus' message.  May we build our whole life around that message.

David wept for his best friend Jonathan. But what seems crazy is that David wept over Saul. Wasn't Saul trying to kill David? Wasn't Saul David's arch nemesis? I think David very much respected Saul and realized that Saul was struggling with a lot of things in his heart and mind. He knew he was being chased by a man who had turned from The Lord and was no longer guided by his spirit. And so he still cared for this troubled man and king. Do we have people that try to hurt us, and yet, do we pray for them? That's a test to see how much love is in our hearts:  pray for our enemeies.  That's what David did.

When I read this psalm, I cannot help but think of Jesus, the king who rules the whole world, who cares for the needy, who rescues the broken, who lives forever and shines like the sun.  Yes, they are probably writing this about or for the king of that day, like Saul or David or Solomon, but because there is not name mentioned in the Psalm, God must have intended it to also respresent his son.  That's pretty cool.