What a friend we have in Jesus
his friend Randy, “the one that used to come to church with me.” I get that question from students from time to time. I scurried through Facebook to see who he was speaking of. Then Ben sent me a couple of pictures, and I remembered him immediately. I replied, “Oh, your twin?” He said “I wanted to call and tell you, but I just can’t. Mom said he passed away last night, and they believe it was suicide.” My heart hurt for Ben, as well as his friend’s family. Depression and suicide are tools of the Devil. Many of us can say that we have struggled with them, but this article isn’t about depression and suicide.
I always called Ben and Randy twins; because they really looked like twins ( I’d almost say freakishly). For a number of years, they were with each other all of the time. They stayed with each other, and wore each other’s clothes. I didn’t know until last weekend, but they were even born a day apart in the same hospital.
In a Facebook post, Ben had mentioned that Randy was always the smarter and cooler one. He further went on to say that Randy had a lot of friends, but was his only friend during that time. I told Ben that it wasn’t so, but it was good to have such a close friend that he felt like he was your only friend.
When I think of the relationship Ben and Randy had, I can’t help but think of the relationship we have with Jesus. First of all, the Bible said we were created in the image of God. I think about how we are supposed to strive to look just like Him! We’re supposed to imitate Him, with our words and deeds. 1 Corinthians 2: 15,16 says we even have the mind of Christ. It reads, “But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man. For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him but we have the mind of Christ.” In fact, when someone meets us, they should feel like they’ve met Jesus.
I didn’t know Randy too well, but I knew Ben. Their friendship causes me to think of Proverbs 18: 24 which reads, “A man that hath friends must show himself friendly: and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother.” Ben is such a friendly guy, that he must have a thousand friends. However, it’s safe to say that he and Randy were more like brothers than friends.
Jesus is a friend like no other! He’s there when everyone else has checked out. He’s a friend of sinners, and we should set a goal to be more like him. One of the last things Ben said of his friend Randy was that he wished they could have been closer recently. I wonder how many would say that of Jesus. Being close to Randy recently would have been difficult for Ben since he is a husband, father, and U.S. Airman in South Dakota. Being closer to Jesus is different. He is with us always. All we have to do to be closer to Him is pray and study the Bible. May we all make an effort to do so. Please pray for those that are grieving today. Be Blessed.