Best Friend

John 15:13-17

“Mom, I don’t think I want to be Amanda’s best friend anymore!” Kristi announced. “In fact, I don’t know if I want to be friends with her at all.”

Mom looked up from the table, where she sat with a small stack of bills and the checkbook. “Really?” she asked. “When did you decide that, Kristi?”

“Today. You won’t believe how she acted!” Kristi helped herself to an apple from the fruit bowl and plopped down onto a chair. “I wanted to tell Amanda about my weekend, but she hardly talked to me all day,” she said. “During the first recess, she played baseball with some other kids. Then when we had free time in class, she worked on a project all by herself. Usually we have lots of time to talk at lunch, but during lunch she talked to the new girl the whole time. Then we sat together on the bus, but she read her book.”

“Sounds like a rough day,” observed Mom, “but I hope you won’t let one day ruin your friendship.”

That evening at family devotions, Kristi had a request. “May I be excused from our prayer time tonight?” she asked. “I’m really tired, and I just don’t feel like praying right now. Besides, I have a test tomorrow, so I need to get my sleep.”

“Hmmm,” murmured Mom. “Remember what you told me about Amanda today?” Kristi looked puzzled as she nodded. “Well, if you skip prayer time, won’t you be acting pretty much like she did?” asked Mom. “You didn’t like it that Amanda didn’t have time for you today—you were even considering not being her friend anymore, right?” Kristi nodded slowly. “Since you asked Jesus into your heart, he is your very best friend,” continued Mom. “He likes to have you talk to him each day, and prayer is the way we talk with him. When you don’t want to pray, he misses spending time with you the way you missed spending time with Amanda today.”

“Hmmm,” said Kristi. “I never thought of it that way before. I guess I’ll stay.”

How about You?

Do you have a good friend you like to talk to? If you’ve asked Jesus to be your Savior, he wants to be your best friend. Do you talk to him often in prayer?

Memorize:

“Devote yourselves to prayer with an alert mind and a thankful heart.” Colossians 4:2