These five things teach you how to choose friends.

No one can imagine how tall a redwood tree is until you stand under it.  It is as tall as a football field set up on end!

How has it stood there for up to 2000 years?  How does it not fall over?

You may know this, but it doesn’t have a taproot that goes hundreds of feet down. Its roots go only 6-10 feet down and then 60 feet out. They connect with other redwood roots to give them fantastic stability.

Those roots are your closest friends and your community.

HERE ARE FIVE WAYS TO CHOOSE THE MOST CRITICAL STABILIZERS (FRIENDSHIPS) IN YOUR LIFE:

1.Choose someone not envious, threatened, or intimidated by you.

Nothing hurts like betrayal, a “dagger in the back.”

Judas betrayed Christ and even kissed him as he betrayed Him.  He had ulterior motives in following Christ.

Someone who is threatened by your success is a betrayal waiting to happen.  

Are they going to compete with you or rejoice with you?

2. Choose someone who is committed to growth like you.

I discovered that my closest friends are constantly reading and feeding.  They want to learn, grow, and develop.

People with no personal growth plan want you to do their growth for them.

You cannot carry a close friend. They have to walk at your speed, growing and improving in life.

3. Choose someone who shares your purpose and passions.

Everybody is passionate about something:  sports, hunting, fishing, music, movies, church, or a hundred other interests.

Community forms with someone who loves what you love.

Do you engage in long conversations about your passion with this person?  Is that subject boring or exciting to them?  Do you lose track of time in that discussion?

4. Choose someone who values community and connection.

In the Scripture, David and Jonathan were so close as friends that they exchanged armor and weapons.  They had a “covenant” relationship. 

They even decided to defend each other as long as they lived.  David blessed a son of Jonathan long after Jonathan had died in battle.

Those roots will hold you up in a storm or a flood.

5. Choose someone who has long-standing friendships.

Some people leave a wake of busted relationships.  Somehow, they move like a hummingbird from flower to flower.

I want to be close to people who have demonstrated loyalty and longevity.

They are like “gold.”

Everyone has friendships that need to end.  Something is discovered about that friendship that gives you pause to continue it.

However, long-term friends are generally the result of careful consideration of others’ needs and being there during their most challenging times.

Redwoods.

Not pine trees that snap off and blow down.

Deep, interconnected roots with friends who hold these five values.

Search carefully for your friends.  God has them for you.  Find them, value them, connect with them, and stay with them.

Jesus did that.  And he built the greatest kingdom in the history of the world.