There’s a difference between being a friend and just being friendly, isn’t there? We can be kind and friendly to everyone. But a friend invests time, emotion, and space. They open their hearts, lives, and homes.
We’ve moved from city to city and making new friends is always tricky. Someone has to open themselves up to you and you have to be willing to step into that space. I’ll never forget moving to Borger. The first week we were there, we went to a high school football game. I was sitting with my four kids, and two women came bouncing down the bleachers and sat and talked to me half of the game. We became close friends…which opened us up to their circle of friends.
If we’re the permanent people, we need to make an effort to welcome new people. It’s so easy to get comfortable with our friends and want to close ranks. But oh what we miss when we do that! We miss being the expression of Jesus. We miss new opportunities and friendships. We miss making sure new people feel welcome.
If we’re new to a place, we have to make an effort, don’t we? We have to go to church, business, or town events and be friendly. We have to be willing to strike up a conversation with a neighbor. We have to quit hiding and just hoping friends materialize. We can even open ourselves up to the people who are newer than us!
Proverbs 18:24 says, “A man who has friends must himself be friendly.” Another way of saying that is, “To have a friend, you must be a friend.” We’re living in a culture where it’s easy to just hide at home. We’re exhausted from long days and just want to chill. We’re friendly with a lot of people…but we’re not opening and investing ourselves. We NEED friends! I encourage you to step out. Invest yourself. Make a new friend this week. Don’t just be friendly…be a friend. These days are hard and we need good friends.
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