Friends

The people you choose to surround yourself with will shape who you are and will become.  Are you being purposeful in choosing to surround yourself with people of character, grace, mercy, love?  Not satisfied with who you are right now?  Take a look at who's around you.

Do you have people that put you first?  Do you put others before yourself?  Check out these guys:

Luke 5:18-19,"Some men came carrying a paralyzed man on a sleeping mat. They tried to take him inside to Jesus, but they couldn’t reach him because of the crowd. So they went up to the roof and took off some tiles. Then they lowered the sick man on his mat down into the crowd, right in front of Jesus."

These might be the best friends of all time.  They literally carried their sick friend to the one person who could heal him.  When they got there, the place was packed.  There was no way they were getting in.  Time to go home, right?  WRONG!  Time to climb up onto the roof of a guy you don't know, haul your lame friend up there, and then dig through the roof (interrupting the teaching time of the Son of God) so that you can lower your buddy down in front of Jesus.

What are the people around you willing to do for you?  More important question...what are you willing to do for those around you?  Are you willing to be that friend?  Are you willing to do anything it takes to get people to Jesus?  Are you willing to have tough conversations?  Are you willing to ask them to come to church?  Are you willing to put your schedule second to show love and build quality relationships?  Are you willing to dig through someone's roof?  That's pretty extreme, but that's literally what happened!

At the end of this story, Luke 5:26 says, "Everyone was gripped with great wonder and awe, and they praised God, exclaiming, “We have seen amazing things today!”

Amazing things...No KIDDING.  You listened to the Son of God, Creator of the universe talk.  You watched some dudes dig through the ceiling and lower in a guy who couldn't walk.  Jesus then forgave the guys sins.  Everyone disapproved, so you watched Jesus prove His Authority by healing the man!  All this because some dudes loved their friend so much that they left the excuses at home and proved they were true friends.  

How about you?   There are plenty of excuses out there.  Will you let them stop you or will you step up and be a friend to someone like these guys were?! 

Never stop showing the love of God to those around you.  Stay strong.