Thu | Oct 2, 2025
Jesus the backstory – Part 6

Dwight Fletcher | I need you, you need me

Published:Sunday | January 10, 2021 | 12:06 AM

We don’t know what this year will hold, but one thing that can take us through tough times is having good friends. Jesus’ life on Earth showed that we all need friends.

When He knew He was about to die, what He wanted most at that time was to spend time with His closest friends. He said: “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.” Luke 22:15 (NIV). When you are down, who can you call?

When He went to the Garden of Gethsemane, He took His friends with Him for support in His weakest hour. This indicates that God sometimes strengthens us through others. We need friends when we are in trouble, when we don’t have solutions, and when we are in pain. Do you have a friend like that?

Jesus also needed His friends in other ways, from doing the driving (via boat) and sharing meals to looking after His mother after He left.

Judas betrayed Him and Peter denied Him, but He didn’t throw them away. Jesus fulfilled Proverbs 17:9, where it says, “Love prospers when a fault is forgiven, but dwelling on it separates close friends.” Friends forgive and work through issues.

Friends can challenge us, confuse us, and sometimes we might wonder why we bother. Nonetheless, friendship helps us grow and is one key to our success. It also has many other benefits.

One often overlooked benefit of friendship is that it helps keep our minds and bodies strong. It’s as important to our physical health as eating well and keeping fit. A Harvard study concluded that having solid friendships in our lives helps promote brain health. One study suggested that spending time with positive friends actually changes our outlook for the better. That means we’re happier when we spend time with happy people, so leave toxic relationships behind.

Second, friends help us deal with stress. Repeated studies have shown that good friendships allow us to rebound from health issues and disease more quickly. “A friend is always loyal, and a brother is born to help in time of need.” Proverbs 17:17 (NLT)

Also, friends don’t cure loneliness, but they help during lonely times. We learn how to accept kindness and also to reach out when we need help. “There are ‘friends’ who destroy each other, but a real friend sticks closer than a brother.”Proverbs. 18:24 (NLT). Is there someone you can reach out to?

And finally, friends improve the quality of our lives by changing our value system so we learn to inject more meaning into our lives. “Become wise by walking with the wise; hang out with fools and watch your life fall to pieces.” Proverbs 13:20 (MSG)

Spending time with friends fills our lives with great conversation, heartfelt caring and support, and laugh-out-loud fun. When we face difficult circumstances, friends are there to put things in perspective and help us. When we have success, they rejoice with us. With godly, down-to-earth, positive people in our lives, we’re more grateful and proactive in doing good for others. We thrive on healthy friendships.

Some of our lives are being destroyed because of the lack of good friends, but if Jesus needed them, we need them, too. Don’t allow toxic ones to thrive or wounds from past relationships to fester, but forgive and let go. Follow Jesus. He recognised that even with the risk involved, developing and maintaining good friendships is well worth the price of finding a few bad apples in the bunch. Which friendship will you choose to nurture this year?