Who you hang around matters. Your relationships do impact your life. They matter. So who are you spending time with? What type of people are you surrounding yourself with? Are they friends who know and love the LORD? Are they friends that will encourage your spiritual growth? Or are they people with whom you need to hide that part of your heart?
Friend, we need to have the kind of people surrounding us that know and love the LORD. We need to have the kind of people who are not “Sunday morning only” followers – but men and women whose faith in Jesus runs deep. We need friends who will stand in the gap for us, lift us up when life tries to drag us down, and constantly bathe us in prayer.
We need those kinds of friendships. We need to have that type of godly influence in our lives. Period.
There is an account in the book of Mark, chapter 2, where we realize that Jesus’ healing ministry has really taken off. Jesus’ fame is spreading like wildfire. Those who have been living without any kind of hope – in sickness, disease, and even demon possession are being brought to a man who is performing miracle after miracle. A brief encounter – even just a touch – and transformation would happen. It is not shocking that huge crowds are constantly forming around Jesus. Getting to him is not as easy as it once might have been.
And so begins our account. There was a man who was paralyzed. We don’t know for how long. We don’t know if the man was paralyzed from birth or had suffered paralysis in some sort of accident. What we do know is that even though the paralyzed man may have heard of Jesus healing people of all types of illness or disease, this man had no hope of getting to him. There was no wheelchair. Even if there had been the “roads” of the time would not have supported one. This man was stuck. He had so many strikes against him. We do, however, know one other important detail about this man. This man had some pretty good friends. People who cared about him. People who were willing to go the extra mile for him. People who were not too proud to bring their friend into the presence of Jesus believing that Jesus would bring about healing.
“While he (Jesus) was preaching God’s word to them, four men arrived carrying a paralyzed man on a mat. They couldn’t bring him to Jesus because of the crowd, so they dug a hole through the roof above his head. Then they lowered the man, right down in front of Jesus. Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the paralyzed man, “My child, your sins are forgiven…” “Then Jesus turned to the paralyzed man and said, “Stand up, pick up your mat, and go home!” And the man jumped up, grabbed his mat, and walked out through the stunned onlookers. They were all amazed and praised God, exclaiming, “We’ve never seen anything like this before!” (Mark 2:2b-5, 10b-12)
This man’s healing happened because this man had friends who believed Jesus was the answer for him. This man had friends who were willing to invest and even put their own safety on the line for a chance to bring hope and healing to their friend. They were so determined for him that they were willing to cause damage to the home of a stranger – not out of malice – but out of faith that Jesus was the answer. Jesus was the game-changer. Jesus was the healer.
We need friends like that. Willing to lift us up before the One and only who is able to bring the healing and help we so desperately need. Who are you surrounding yourself with? If you are the only one who “believes” it is likely that your faith will waffle. We need to be close to other believers who can help lift us up and carry the burdens life inevitably brings. I am not saying we completely exclude non-believing friends from our circle of influence. I am saying that we need to keep in mind that we do become like those we spend time with. With that said: I want to spend time with Jesus and those who follow Him, know Him, and love Him.
LORD, would you please help us to be wise in whom we surround ourselves with? Father, we ask that you would bring the right people into our lives. Would you raise up within us and around us a sense of who these men and women are – and help us, LORD God, to be the type of friends who are willing to stand in the gap and encourage and love on one another. We ask these things in Jesus’ name, Amen.
Blessings!