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True friendship is marked by a love that endures through all of life’s circumstances from the best of times to the worst of times. And while a friend loves always, that love is demonstrated in all kinds of ways. Sometimes it comforts. Sometimes it corrects. Sometimes it cheers. At all times, a friend imperfectly loves in whatever way fits the occasion and points to the perfect love of our greatest friend, Jesus. He knows what is best for us, wants what is best for us and does what is best for us. We rely on Him to pass on what we receive from Him to the people in our lives. Our love to others flows from His love to us.

The bad news is, we are destitute in our sin. The good news is, God is rich in His mercy. When we were unable to save ourselves and undeserving to be saved, God did something so unbelievably gracious it can only be received by faith. He demonstrated His love for us in sending Jesus to live, die and rise for us. The cross is the intersection where God’s hatred for sin and God’s love for sinners meet so that we don’t get what we deserve, and we get what we don’t deserve. Wrath avoided. Benefits gained. Mercy extended. God doesn’t help those who help themselves; God helps those who cannot help themselves.

Faith has a transforming effect upon our lives. It changes us into risk-takers who are willing to take bold steps of faith to carry out God’s will. We go where He says go. We do what He says do. By faith, we rely on God’s grace to prevail against the tribulations, oppositions and distractions that seek to stop us from doing good in the name of Jesus. This faith isn’t a confidence that God will give us all we want to make us comfortable; it is a confidence that makes us willing to give up our comforts to gain something that is far better. What emboldens us to keep going is believing that God will keep His promises to us.

God is too righteous to ignore our sin as if it doesn’t matter to Him, and He is too loving to ignore us in our sin as if we don’t matter to Him. He is both just and justifier. He both hates sin and loves sinners. He both punishes evil and pardons evildoers. How is this possible? By sending Jesus to die in our place for our sin so we can receive His righteousness by His grace. When we trust in Him, God forgives us so we get away with past sin, and frees us so we can get away from future sin. Praise the Lord! As born-again Christians, God now helps us take sin as seriously as He does so we can flee it or fight it by His grace.

God graciously works through us to accomplish what He intends for us. We are fearful, but He gives us courage. We have no weapons, but He provides the armor. We show up for battle, but He secures the victory. We grow weary, but He keeps us going. Anything and everything that we have or are or do which is good comes through God. We don’t always see this in good times, but in bad times, we realize just how little we can do on our own. Let us first praise God, not second-guess Him, when we don’t know what He is doing. Because we do know for those who trust in Jesus, He is always doing something good.

God uses many means to accomplish what He purposes. These include people, circumstances and divine intervention. In some way, all things work together to accomplish what God wants to happen, when God wants it to happen, how God wants it to happen, why God wants it to happen and to whom God wants it to happen. This is not accidental; it is intentional. Even the sinfulness of people, the brokenness of this world and the maliciousness of Satan which seem to stop God’s work are made to bow down and serve His purposes. All we have in Christ is sure, for God never fails to do what He has determined is best.

You are not bothering God when you ask Him for more grace. He isn’t too busy or too disinterested. He doesn’t need to put something more important on hold to help you. Listen… There is no sin so big that God won’t forgive it and no sin so small that God will ignore it. There is no stronghold so powerful that God can’t break it and no stronghold so flimsy that God wants you to get free on your own. There is no problem so significant that God won’t handle it and no problem so petty that God doesn’t care about it. He does trillions of things in running the universe. One of His favorites is hearing from and helping you.

Oftentimes following Jesus in faith will require us to go to hard places, have hard conversations, do hard things, endure hard circumstances and deal with hard people. But let us remember… The hard stuff will only last a little while. The hard stuff will end when Jesus comes for us. The hard stuff will not compare to our reward. As we look around at the struggles we must endure, let us look ahead to the return of Jesus and the end of all struggles. Don’t give in! Don’t give out! Don’t give up! By faith, keep going and Jesus will ensure that you make it. We aren’t promised it will be easy; we are only promised it will be worth it.

Encouragement plays a key role in the key responsibility Jesus left for us to complete by His gracious help. We are to make disciples, and we do so largely by encouraging one another. We encourage one another to read the Bible. We encourage one another to pray. We encourage one another to serve God’s kingdom. We encourage one another to lovingly obey. We encourage one another to believe and live out the truths of the gospel. We encourage one another to trust Jesus more fully in more areas of our lives. Our faith strengthens and spreads as we stir up each other’s affections for knowing, enjoying and glorifying God.

God is near us when we have broken hearts and broken spirits. Whether we are struggling with our own sin, the sin of others, or the result of sin’s fracturing of our world, He is never distant even if it seems that way. He hears our cries. He comforts our hearts. He meets our needs. Though the result will not always be when we want it and how we want it, we have His promise that we will lack no good thing. This is true because God did not spare even His own Son from suffering. Jesus is our ever-near Immanuel, who lived, died and rose so we can taste and see God’s goodness. Mingled with tears now. Free from tears later.