You’ve heard it more than one time being said, “In life you’ll have many acquaintances, but few friends.” Is that true? I believe it is especially true if you value quality over quantity. No doubt you have known of someone who when around others he or she appears to be the life of the party, while when absent from that environment is actually one of the most lonely individuals you could ever meet.
Solomon penned these words found in the O.T. book of Proverbs 17:17: “A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born of adversity.” Another translations reads, “A friend is always loyal, and a brother is born to help in time of need.” That tells us that you and I build friendship by meeting the needs of others. It is also those we surround ourselves with will have a direct impact on the decisions you and I make and the actions we take. The right friends always add value to who you are. You, like me have read that when others see those we refer to as friends in our lives, those individuals will then be telling others who we are. There was a publication that offered a prize for the best definition of a friend, and among the thousands of entries received was this one. “A friend multiplies our joys, divides our grief; and is one who understands our silence.” Proverbs 17:17 in the NLT wraps that up with these words, “A friend loves at all times. He is there to help when trouble comes.”
Most have yearned for a ‘real’ friend to come into our life. Someone we can trust to share our highs, our lows, our dreams, and our desires with. Then, during the tough times, someone we can feel free to share our hurts, our sorrows, and even our disappointments with. Face it! We all have those areas at one time or another, therefore, we’re all in need of a “friend” who can be trusted enough to be a real friend. Sad to say, most, we would refer to as “friends,” are mirrored down to be those we hang around the coffee machine with, and who are bragging about their latest success and achievement. Too often, it’s that individual who in their own skin is ‘secretly’ saying, “Look how wonderful I am. Look what I’ve accomplished.” Look! Please look….I need you to look!”
One Bible commentary reads that in the Old Testament times, friends entered into a covenant by exchanging a shoe and a sword. The shoe meant, “I’ll go wherever you are and I’ll stand with you.” The sword meant, “I’ll fight for you and lay down my life for you.” That is a real and true friend. To become a real friend requires coming into a level of friendship you give. To desire a true friendship to come into your life or to become a true friend to another requires many things such as sacrifice, commitments, and even your energy for those times when you probably don’t feel like going the first mile, yet you know you must go even a second or third mile.
Just maybe today you are one who has longed for one you could refer to as a friend, yet have come up empty-handed. What to do? Spend time in prayer and reading the Word of God, getting to know the One written of in Proverbs 18:24; “A man who has friends must himself be friendly, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.” And His name is Jesus!
There is absolutely not a better ‘friend’ you could ever have than Jesus, and if you’ll turn your life over to Him, He will make your life spiritually and emotionally whole. And when that takes place you’ll sooner than not find that you’ll begin to experience that one, two, three, or more, “friends” of like character that will come into your life, and before you know it you can truly refer them as a friend. That means a friend at any hour of the day or night!
Blessings, Psalm 20:7 Dale & Jeannie