Let’s be real, because we’re human and because we live in the world that we live in, we are guaranteed to struggle in life and we are guaranteed to go through storms. Thankfully, God didn’t create us to go through those things alone. I absolutely love the story in Mark 2:1-12 about Jesus healing the paralyzed man. It wasn’t because of his faith or because HE walked to Jesus, but because his friends CARRIED him to Jesus he got to experience breakthrough and healing.

Mark 2:1-12: “When Jesus returned to Capernaum several days later, the news spread quickly that he was back home. Soon the house where he was staying was so packed with visitors that there was no more room, even outside the door. While he was preaching God’s word to them, four men arrived carrying a paralyzed man on a mat. They couldn’t bring him to Jesus because of the crowd, so they dug a hole through the roof above his head. Then they lowered the man on his mat, right down in front of Jesus. Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the paralyzed man, “My child, your sins are forgiven.” But some of the teachers of religious law who were sitting there thought to themselves, “What is he saying? This is blasphemy! Only God can forgive sins!” Jesus knew immediately what they were thinking, so he asked them, “Why do you question this in your hearts? Is it easier to say to the paralyzed man ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or ‘Stand up, pick up your mat, and walk’? So I will prove to you that the Son of Man has the authority on earth to forgive sins.” Then Jesus turned to the paralyzed man and said, “Stand up, pick up your mat, and go home!” And the man jumped up, grabbed his mat, and walked out through the stunned onlookers. They were all amazed and praised God, exclaiming, “We’ve never seen anything like this before!”

This is what it looks like when you get with the right crew. THEY GOT THIS MAN TO JESUS, NO MATTER WHAT GOT IN THE WAY. They got to partake in Jesus performing a miracle in front of many people. When they walked out, the people around them were praising God saying, “we’ve never seen anything like this before!” When I look next to me, the people I see have heavenly influence placed over their life because whenever they walk in a room the spirit of God follows and the heart of Jesus is shown. When I look to my left and my right I see people who reflect the love of Jesus, not people who are perfect, but people who love me enough that if they see me struggling, they don’t judge me or talk about me, they simply pray for me and point me to God. That’s how it’s supposed to be, especially since we’re linking arms and walking with God, building his kingdom, we’re called to represent HIS heart here on earth. When you look next to you, do you see people that reflect the heart of Jesus, call you higher and will carry you towards your miracle?

“Human need moved these four men;

let it also move you to compassionate action.”

These friends were MOVED by his need for Jesus, not burdened. I just love the faith and hard work of his friends. They saw that healing of some sort was needed for this man and their thought process was, “maybe if we can just get him to Jesus, to even just HEAR Jesus speak, something good can happen,” and because of THEIR hard work and faith, this man was not only forgiven of his sins but he was also HEALED and came to know the love of JESUS. Look what getting around the right people can do!! I don’t know about you but I want to be around the kind of people that see a human need in my life or see that I need healing from something and they just carry me to Jesus, they don’t talk about me or the situation, they just take me to the only one they know that CAN do the healing. These friends brought a miracle, the favor of God, the presence of Jesus and LOVE into this man’s life… those are the kinds of friends to not only pray for but to also BE.

Wait for good friends that protect, cover, and love you enough to talk TO you and not ABOUT you. Great friends fight for you (spiritually) when you’re going through the fire. They’ll come in and fight right by your side when your world is crashing down. The response of a good friend when you mess up is, “I still love you, now let’s get back up and watch God doing something beautiful through this mess.” Good friends respond with an attitude of faith by saying “let’s pray about it right now.” Get around people that don’t give up on you because you’ve got things going on or you’ve messed up in some way but actually get you to Jesus. I’m not saying that your friends or even you as a friend to others have to carry each other’s burdens, my point is to surround yourself with people that love you enough to continually point you to the only Healer there is. When there’s a human need or struggle, does your crew (that includes you) respond with compassionate action, like prayer or encouragement, or is the response gossip and judgment? Don’t hear me wrong: surround yourself with people that love you enough to call out your blind spots, but get around those that do it humbly, accepting their own flaws and also doing so in a loving way. It’s not about having friends that don’t point out your wrong-doings or that baby you, it’s about having friends that do so (BECAUSE they love you) filled with love in their heart because they actually know that your intentions aren’t bad, accepting that you’re human, just like they are.

When you look next to you, to those closest to you, do you see the heart of Jesus? Do you see the favor of God within your circle of close friends? Do you see people that reflect who Jesus truly is? (You being included)

Real “crew love” looks like the love and heart of Jesus being represented by genuine compassion for others, being moved by human needs, responding with grace not judgment, and the desire to sacrifice yourself to get someone else to their healing and miracle. Real friendship looks like challenging each other to consistently grow and become better. Real friendship looks like lifting each other up with encouraging words. The one thing I really appreciate about my close friends is that even when I mess up, they speak life and not death over me. The remind me of who I’m called to be not just my mistake. Real friends have your back, not talk behind it.

“Great friends protect you from yourself,

attacks, and others.”

God has given us many examples in the bible on what a good friend looks like but my absolute favorite is Jesus. No matter what anyone had done to him or said about him, he always responded with grace. But I think of two stories that really exhibit Jesus just being a plain old good friend: the story of the woman caught in adultery where the religious people wanted to stone her to death for what she had done but instead Jesus gave her grace and loved the mess out of her and the story of Zacchaeus.

If we’re called to point others to the grace of God, aren’t we supposed to be the ones that exhibit that grace first?

• Do your friends give you grace when you mess up?
• Do they point out your blind spots lovingly?
• Do they love you all the way to healing?
• Do you do all of these things for those around you?

In the midst of this woman’s mess, while she was probably already feeling so much shame, Jesus was just a good friend to her, showing her the grace that she needed. You see, it’s not the condemning thoughts or words we sometimes run to that heals people, it’s actually just grace that can take such a messed up, dirty, or broken person and put all of their pieces back together and still bring glory to God. Let me ask this: when you and your friends get around others, isgrace shown and is healing brought about?

The second story that reminds me of the blessing of Jesus’ friendship for us is his encounter withZacchaeus. (Luke 19:1-10) This passage in my bible is titled “Jesus Brings Salvation to Zacchaeus’ Home.” Look what God did for Zacchaeus and those around him all because Jesus was just a good friend and a loving person. Because Jesus chose following the heart of God, he brought salvation and life change to that home that day. It amazes me the position of the Pharisees’ heart that day: judgment. I’m not saying I’ve never talked bad about someone or judged anyone, that was all my past was about. I’m saying that I realize that as a follower of Jesus, we are called so much greater than stooping so low. We’re called to bringing salvation into someone else’s home. We’re called to partake in change brought about by GOD. We’ve been chosen by God to wreck this world with His grace.

When we drop the gossip and judgment and pick up humility and grace, God can move in and through us like never before.

The most important thing about friendships is not only surrounding yourself with good people who are striving to be more like Jesus but also BEING that good person to your friends and all those around you.

Is your “crew” the proof of God’s love? Is who you’re surround yourself with loving the mess out of people? Remember, as followers of Jesus, we have an important calling placed over our lives to be a part of God bringing heaven here to earth, so let’s not allow being around the wrong crowd affect the calling that God has placed on our lives.