FRIENDSHIP

As iron sharpens iron, so a man sharpens the countenance of his FRIEND – Proverbs 27:17

What is your Attitude to FRIENDSHIP? How friendly are you? Do you have friends? Who are they? How do you relate to them? We do not often give conscious attention to the issue of friendship in our lives until challenges or crises arise to shake us from our “comfort zone.” Friendship is a soundly scriptural theme, the attitude to which can make significant differences to the lives and destinies of individuals and groups of people. God makes and has friends. Abraham “was called the Friend of God” (Isa.41:8; Jam.2:23). Moreover, Jehovah spoke to “Moses face-to-face as a man speaks to his friend” (Exo.33:11). James 4:4 says “You adulterers and adulteresses, do you not know that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.” God is greatly concerned about friendship!

Here are few biblical perspectives and nuggets of wisdom that could shape our attitude to friendship and friends:

True friends stay, stick, abide, and remain in all seasons and situations: “A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity” (Pro. 17:17); “…there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother” (Pro.18:24b). True friendship is life-long!

True friends sacrifice; and they share care, attention, time, interests, provisions, passions, gifts, burdens, pressures, pains, problems, and solutions. For example, when Job’s friends heard of all his adversity, they “made an appointment together to come and mourn with him, and to comfort him” (Job 2:11). At the end of his trial, Job also prayed for his friends (Pro. 42:10). True friends seek one another’s welfare and communicate “heart-to-heart” intimate secrets, wisdom and counsel: “Ointment and perfume delight the heart, and the sweetness of a man’s friends does so by hearty counsel” (Pro.27:9).

True friends sharpen, encourage, motivate, correct, chastise, and add value. A friend is someone who knows all about you, but likes you anyway. He is one before whom you can dream aloud! True friends are open, honest, sincere, and ‘naked’: “Open rebuke is better than love carefully concealed” (Pro.27:5). In the beginning, Adam and Eve were naked and were not ashamed (Gen.2:25). “Faithful are the wounds of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful” (Pro.27:6).

True friends are value-creating assets. They commit to covenants. Such was the case between David and Jonathan, King Saul’s son (1Sam.18:3-4; 2Sam.9:1-3). We are warned to beware of false friends (Mic.7:5-8). Good friends are hard to find, harder to leave, and impossible to forget. True friendship consists not in the multitude of friends, but in their commitment, worth and value (Psa.41:9). False friendship could be motivated by material gain: “many entreat the favour of the nobility, and every man is a friend to one who gives gifts” (Pro.19:6).

The best friends are those who bring out the best in you (Phi 6). A good friend walks in when others walk out on you. Jesus was such a faithful friend to the outcasts of society (Mt.11:19). A good friend will see you through when others see that you’re through. Such was David’s friendship with Hushai the Archite (2Sam.15:32-37). A good friend never gets in your way unless you are on your way down. If you want to make friends on an enduring and lasting basis, you must in turn be friendly: “A man who has friends must himself be friendly, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother” (Pro.18:24).

A true friend doesn’t sympathize with your weakness, but helps to summon your strength. God demonstrated His friendship toward Moses by motivating His strengthen (Exo.4:10-12). Each new friend represents a new world in you. Like the relationships of value that they are, friendships must be nurtured, developed and defended. Above all else, God wants you to be His Friend. Jesus actually described all who believe in Him as friends (Jh.15:13-15). Are you a True Friend of Jesus?