The Best Possible Friends

Acts: 18:18 –

After this, Paul stayed many days longer and then took leave of the brothers and set sail for Syria, and with him Priscilla and Aquila.

I’m so intrigued by this verse! Paul takes Priscilla and Aquila with him on his journey to Syria.

Yesterday I was sharing with a Bible study group and part of our study included John 15:15 where Jesus says,

John 15:15 –

“No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.”

First of all, it blows me away that Jesus, the Son of God, the Light of the world, the Alpha and Omega, the Co-Creator of the universe and all that’s in it would call his disciples his friends. And I’m also amazed because we have the gospels, what Jesus shared with his disciples he’s also shared with you and with me. So I believe he would say the same about you and me.

Jesus, the friend of sinners, calls you his friend. And he calls me his friend too.

But the other thing I noticed was this idea of transparency between Jesus and his friends. “. . . I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you,” Jesus said.

I have these three really great friends. We were getting together most Saturday mornings for a while before two of them moved away. The goal of the group was to help each other to become more like Jesus, and to follow him better. We would talk, and pray. Occasionally we would play golf together. Sometimes we would gather for breakfast. (That’s how the remaining member of this group and I usually still connect on Saturday, over breakfast.) The three of us even went on a couple of retreats together, just the three of us.

We would share our setbacks and our breakthroughs in our respective quests to love like Jesus. Even now we stay in contact and share our setbacks and our breakthroughs. And the thing is, we’re transparent with each other. We share things we don’t share with anyone else except maybe our spouses.

I would love to know what those conversations were like between Paul Priscilla and Aquila. All three had tent making and a love of Jesus in common. I would bet they all three helped each other to become more conformed into the likeness of Christ.

The influence those three men have had on me is enormous. Much of the content you read on this blog is because of those three.

Can I give you my best advice?

One of the very best things, maybe the best thing, you can do to follow Jesus, love like Jesus, and become more like him is to be intentional about finding faithful friends like the three friends I found. Jesus did that. Jesus prayed all night about who to choose as his twelve friends. And he made them his family. (Luke 6:12-13, Matthew 12:48-50)

Like Paul, Priscilla, and Aquila, who journeyed together to Syria. Find friends who are filled with the Spirit of Jesus and who reflect his nature. Connect yourself to those friends. Be transparent with those friends. Make memories and go on adventures with those friends.

Journey through life with those friends if you want to love Jesus more deeply, follow Jesus more closely, and become more like him.

Written by Kurt Cameron Bennett

This is an updated edition of a post originally published on Christian Grandfather Magazine

Featured Image by mostafa meraji from Pixabay

About the Author

We desire to stir up grandfathers to continue leading—to share the gospel—to help one another in doing so. Christian Grandfather Magazine publishes faith-building articles from a variety of writers to encourage a closer spiritual bond with God, your wife, your children, and your grandchildren.

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