Friends

     I have heard the expression, “No man is an island.” I found that the original idea came from a poem that was written some 400 years ago. It had to do with “isolationism” and that we are really part of something and not totally independent from everything. That was the idea and it had to do with something that took place years ago and as we experienced life, we found that it is true. I lived in the country as a young boy and the nearest neighbor that had children was about a half mile away. The bicycle made it possible for us to “connect” from time to time. Fights would break out now and then but we never let them last too long. We would make up and then go back to doing whatever we were doing before the disagreement took place. That was life as a kid in La Porte county specifically in Wills township. We soon learn that it is indeed true that no man is an island but that we are connected to others. Sometimes, it is through family but as the family begins to die off, our connections belong to friends. In my case, many of those friends are associated with one church or another that has been a part of my life. My first church experience was the Rolling Prairie Methodist Church but went on from there to include many different churches in many different places. James 5:16 says, “Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.”

       After becoming a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ, I found that we would build relationships with various people and many would become life long “friends.” They became so important that we would find that we would be sad when they were sad and happy when they were happy. We also found that we were concerned about their life and how they were doing and would lift them up in prayer when they specified that they had a spiritual or even physical need in their life. At some point in more recent years, I heard about the “one another” commands as mentioned in the verse for today. It certainly is true that no man is an island in that we are admonished to do many things, one for another. One of those things was mentioned above and it is to pray one for another. James actually includes two different “one another” commands in the passage, one referring to confessing your faults and the other involving prayer. Confessing your faults sometimes meaning to say that you are sorry about some offense that may have taken place between you and one of your friends. One person put it this way. “You can't stay mad at a person when you are praying for them.” Everyone has one or more needs in their lives and would appreciate prayers probably every day and not just during a catastrophe. You may find that you are in a different set of circumstances today and with a completely different time schedule. It is a good time for prayer. Of course, it is always a good time for prayer, but take advantage of some of the extra time in your life and do what James said almost 2,000 years ago. Pray one for another. Praise God that He still listens to our prayers.