Growing up I had a couple "best friends", however the one I truly remember was the man who was my best man at my wedding. It was truly a unique relationship. We hung out even when we were just bored and didn't feel like doing anything. It was a great relationship; it was a "guy" relationship. We didn't have a lot of stuff in common, lets be honest he was into stuff like dungeons and dragons while I watched Notre Dame Football. It's also important to realize that we were two years apart and yet seemed to have enough in common to hang out all the time. Whenever this guy got into a fight, I was the back-up no matter how many were there. It's a relationship that I've strived for ever since I got into the military and yet I do not have. This relationship existed because of love between two people. Now being "men of men" that was never spoken but it existed. Most relationships exist with some type of emotion attached to it and I believe love is the strongest emotion that one person can feel.



Ultimately I've been searching for this kind of relationship, the one person I could tell my deepest, darkest secret too without fear of persecution. I'll be very honest right now and admit that I never ever considered God my closest friend? He's my father. He knows everything I do to include the bad with the good. He loves me no matter what. So how couldn't he also be my closest friend? He has to be more than a father to me right? I mean he answers my prayers. My earthly parents can't do that, neither can my closest friends. I go to him to ask for things that I could ask no one else. So He has to be more than just a father, right? In Deut. 31:6 Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you." The words "he will never leave you" should ring through your body as you read it. Beyond any relationship you have, the one person to never leave you is God. Even when you choose to do the wrong thing, he'll never leave you.



So beyond just a father/son/daughter relationship, we have a best friend relationship with our maker. When we sin he tells us "But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." Romans 5:8. When we don't understand why we are tempted God reminds us thru 1 Cor 10:13, "No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to us all. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it." When you feel as if you are completely alone in this world we are reminded in Deut. 31: 6, "he will never leave you nor forsake you". When we don't understand why things are happening to us God tells us, "Join with me in suffering, like a good soldier of Christ Jesus." 2 Tim 2:3. The Lord is truly my best friend forever (as the young kids like to say). He is there for me through everything and he will never leave me.



Now how will you apply this? How will you handle God as your best friend as well as your father? Will you ignore the awesome example of relationship that God provides, or will you take the ball and run with it by creating those relationships here on earth. Trust me that there are plenty of people who need close friends to do things with and confide in. After all I'm one of them….