Good Friends:

I hear a lot of stories
I suppose they could be true
All about love
And what it can do to you

Highest risk of striking out
The risk of getting hurt
And still
I have so much to learn

Well, I know
'Cause I think about it all the time
I know
That real love has quite a price

And a good heart
These days, is hard to find
(A good heart)
True love, the lasting kind

A good heart
These days, is hard to find
So please be gentle with this heart of mine

My expectations may be high
I blamed it on my youth
Soon enough
I'll learned the painful truth

I'll face it like a fighter
Then boast of how I've grown
Anything is better
Than being alone

Well, I know
'Cause I learn a little every day
I know
'Cause I listen when the experts say

That a good heart
These days, is hard to find
(A good heart)
True love, the lasting kind

A good heart
These days, is hard to find
So please be gentle with this heart of mine

As I look back
On all my childhood dreams
My ideas of love weren't
As foolish as they seemed

If I don't start looking now
I'll be left behind
And a good heart these days
It's hard to find

Well, I know
It's a dream I'm willing to defend
I know
It will all be worth it in the end

And a good heart
These days, is hard to find
(A good heart)
True love, the lasting kind

A good heart
These days, is hard to find
So please be gentle with this heart of mine

And a good heart
These days, is hard to find
(A good heart)
True love, the lasting kind

A good heart
These days, is hard to find
So please be gentle with this heart
With this heart of mine

A good heart, a good heart
A good heart, a good heart
A good heart, a good heart
A good heart

Songwriters
MARIA LOUISA MCKEE


I do not agree entirely with the words written by Maria Louisa McKee and that  Feargal Sharkey sang where he tells us that a good heart is hard to find. I have just been spending a weekend with good friends. It is true to say that they were not at all hard to find, we simply stumbled across each other in my line of duty and now I count them as very dear to me.
This all caused me to start thinking as the Easter week begins: Where do we really start to find friends?

 

I have an amazing group of friends that span the globe some of whom I am never likely to see again this side of eternity but they are all good friends. Some of them span back to my youth and others are very recent indeed but they are all good friends and I guess it is accurate to say that we never went out of our way to find each other. We simply stumbled over each other in the course of life and gelled.

 

I can understand that some folks find it very difficult to get to know others because they are shy etc. But I am a naturally shy person (most who know me deny that) but I easily overcome that when comfortable in the presence of friends. Friendship it seems to me is made in an instant and continues through all sorts of issues.

 

Some that I count as good friends I no longer see due to differences of opinion (usually theological deviations!!!) but it does not break the bond of friendship, we can still embrace as we meet knowing that we have true love and respect for each other despite our differences.
We are coming up to our Easter celebrations where we remember the Lord Jesus' passion for the salvation of mankind. We see His true friendship extended to a bunch of disciples who would shortly turn their backs on him, some with cursing and swearing! We see Him embracing them in prayer and having great concern for their wellbeing, that is true friendship.

 

We even see His compassion towards His betrayer, why not read the account of Judas leaving the last supper and see the tension that is built up as Jesus clearly sorrows for Judas who was walking headlong from His presence into a lost eternity.

This is true love, it is sacrificial to the extreme! Jesus truly loved His friends to death. It is by His death that our friendship was made. He really did love His people to death.

But what of Judas?
Jesus loved Judas also, not with saving or restorative love but with common love for  a man who would never reciprocate or accept who Jesus really was. Poor old Judas is a warning to all who turn their backs on a Friend who is faithful to death in order that we might gaain eternal friendship with God. This friend we did not merely stumble upon, He chose us, sought us and called us into His circle of friends all of whom He loves more than any will ever know!

Do you love Him?

 

I fully agree with the words below written by James G. Small

    I’ve found a Friend, oh, such a Friend!
      He loved me ere I knew Him;
    He drew me with the cords of love,
      And thus He bound me to Him.
    And round my heart still closely twine
      Those ties which naught can sever,
    For I am His, and He is mine,
      Forever and forever.
  
 I’ve found a Friend, oh, such a Friend!
      He bled, He died to save me;
    And not alone the gift of life,
      But His own self He gave me.
    Naught that I have my own I call,
      I hold it for the Giver;
    My heart, my strength, my life, my all,
      Are His, and His forever.
  
 I’ve found a Friend, oh, such a Friend!
      So kind, and true, and tender,
    So wise a Counsellor and Guide,
      So mighty a Defender!
    From Him who loves me now so well,
      What power my soul can sever?
    Shall life or death, or earth or hell?
      No? I am His forever.