Greetings dear young Readers,

In this edition of the Youth Messenger we are excited to cover the topic of “Friendship That Lasts.” What is friendship, and why is it important to us as young Christians?

In my youth, I had many thoughts and questions on this subject:

• With whom is it most important to have a friendship? 
?Those who are:

⁃ most popular?

⁃ best looking?

⁃ most intelligent?

⁃ most powerful?

⁃ best off financially?

• Are there good and bad friendships?

• Can friendships be used for good and bad?

• If I’m having trouble making or keeping friendships, 
?what can I change to make them lasting?

The Bible says, “A man that hath friends must shew himself friendly: and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother” (Proverbs 18:24).

What two things do we learn from this verse?

1. In order to have friends, we ourselves need to be friendly! “If we would . . . be kind and courteous and tenderhearted and pitiful, there would be one hundred conversions to the truth where now there is only one.”—Testimonies for the Church, vol. 9, p. 189. Wow, that is powerful! By displaying the attributes of true friendship there would be 100 times more positive results in missionary work! Can God use you and me to do that? Yes, He can!

2. In the second half of Proverbs 18:24, we see a reference to a wonderful, special friend, even closer than a brother. “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). The friend mentioned here must be the same one referred to in Proverbs. Do you have a friend who is willing to give his or her life so that you can live? I have been blessed to have a Friend like that since I was born. Because of our friendship He was able to get me out of a very difficult time in life—and if it weren’t for Him giving up His life for mine, I would probably be dead or spending the rest of my life in prison today. His name is JESUS!

I pray that as you read these articles you realize that He wants to be YOUR best Friend too. He already is! Through Him, you’ll be able to cultivate lasting friendships in your daily life as well.

God bless!

Pastor Daniel Balbach