May 17, 2019
1 Samuel 20
Oprah Winfrey dedicated one of her TV shows to the struggles of widowers. She had 5 widowers talk about the loss of their wives and the importance of support groups for grieving people. Then as a show biz gimmick, they asked women to write in if they would want to go on a date with any of the men. What they didn't anticipate was that in one week they would receive 40,000 letters from interested women, children sending in photos of their moms, and whole classrooms championing their teachers.
My observation is first, that these men were popular because they were highly committed in their relationships and second, we live in an incredibly lonely world. The extent of loneliness in our society is epidemic today. Even though we are more connected than ever, we are lonelier than ever.
One of the reasons we are so lonely is because we don't know how to build friendships. There is no better example of friendship than Jonathan and David. It was an unlikely friendship because Jonathan was the heir to the throne. What made their friendship work was the ultimate friendship both men had with the living God. Without a first-hand knowledge of God, we won't have the strength to build friendships. Jesus said in John 7 that we have a thirst in our soul that only he can quench. From this satisfied heart, both men shared in common interests, made sacrifices for each other, encouraged one another, and did life together, opening up their hearts to the struggles they faced. As a result of their hard work in relationship building, they enjoyed one of life's greatest gifts- friendship.
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