A Friend of a Friend of a Friend

At one point in the conversation, we drifted to discussing a singer that I truly enjoy listening to with a voice that skips the ears and goes straight to the heart. When one of our friends at the table mentioned she knew her well and invited me to meet her, I immediately felt a mix of nervousness and gratitude. I always get nervous at the prospect of meeting someone I have great admiration for. I felt gratitude for having people in my life who are so interesting, kind, and well-connected.

As I thought about it, we were at that table because we had a friend who introduced us to a friend, who introduced us to a friend. In each of those introductions, we chose to engage as friends, and relationships grew. Investing in and honoring friendships is a key to an abundant life. Come to think of it, when Jesus called us friends, He redefined everything.

"So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God because our Lord Jesus Christ has made us friends of God." (Romans 5:11) 

It was weird to me when I considered God being a friend of a friend. But that is what Jesus did. On our own, we were distant. We knew each other but had a few issues to work out. Jesus fixed that, made us his friend, and leveraged that friendship to renew our friendship with God. That is networking at its finest. That is the power of friendship.

Consider your business for a minute. How many people's paths do you cross every day where you miss the opportunity to make a friend? Now consider if each of those people had the ability to connect you to one or two of their friends. Draw it out. Keep going with this logic until you are overwhelmed by the math of it all or run out of paper. One friend can lead to a massive opportunity. But remember, to have a friend, you have to be a friend. Not for what they can do for you, but because you genuinely care. That means they come first. It means spending time together, listening to who they truly are, stepping in to help, laughing and crying together, and showing up. The same with God. It's worth the effort.

When I sit back and think about the friends I have in my life, it fills me with great joy. When I track those friends back to how I met them, I can usually pinpoint the person whose path I randomly or supernaturally crossed, and we became friends. It reminds me of the Bible's definition of grace: God's undeserved favor. All because Jesus called me a friend when I did nothing to earn it.

It’s a high honor to be a friend of a friend of a friend.