Someone once said, ‘show me your friends, and I’ll show you your future’. Who we let influence us, determines where we are going.  Paul said in Corinthians, ‘Bad company corrupts good character’ (1 Corinthians 15:33).

Sometimes making good friends takes hard work. It can be a process than requires strategy and intentionality.

Here are a few tips for finding good friends:

Jesus himself was a great leader who was unknown from the crowd for the majority of his life. Some of the most encouraging, spiritually impacting people in my life – full of wisdom and experience, are the most unassuming, low-profile, beautiful people!

2. Find people who are more gifted, smarter and more experienced than you. People tend to flock to those they feel most comfortable around. Most people feel intimidated by greatness, and some feel better about themselves if they are ‘better’ than those they hang with. Comfort never challenges though. Be secure enough to find people who are ahead of you. Don’t be intimated by greatness, instead be encouraged by greatness in others.

3. Seek to serve one another. People often seek relationships for what they can get. But all relationships – marriage, friendships, parenting, are built and sustained, not on what you can get, but on what you can give. Serving breaks down walls, requires vulnerability, and places value and honour on someone else – all of which bears mutual fruit over time.

You are too precious to waste your time and potential on people who aren’t taking you to better places. Get intentional about who is in your inner circle!

Emma Burchell

A daily devotion for a better way of living.