The last few days once again I’ve been reminded of the great blessings of friendships. It seems to me that it would be impossible to describe how important it is for preachers to form friendships with other preachers. In Romans 16 Paul mentions more than two dozen names of people who had built friendship with in his work. A number of these individuals were “fellow workers in Christ Jesus.”
Paul expressed his love, appreciation, and friendship to the Philippians, “For it is only right for me to feel this way about you all, because I have you in my heart… For God is my witness, how I long for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus.” It is clear that these friendships are made better, stronger, and more meaningful because of the bonds we have in Jesus.
Preachers need friends, and preachers need friends who are preachers. We need friends to help us in the trials and tribulations of life. We need friends who will rejoice with us when we experience victory in this life. We need friends who will be honest with us and tell us what we need to hear, and we will know they do so because they love us. We need friends who will discuss ideas that we have concerning difficult scripture. We need friends who will pray with us. We need friends who will love us. We need friends who will talk with us about the deepest concerns in our heart. We need friends who will help us know that we are valued and appreciated. We need friends who understand what we are dealing with in ministry. We need friends who will talk with us when we have concerns about our work.
We need to remember that we have a friend who will never leave us or forsake us. How blessed we are that Jesus is our friend, but we still need friends who are preachers.
