“The heartfelt counsel of a friend is as sweet as perfume and incense.”
Proverbs 27:9
Friends come in all shapes and sizes. Some have big hearts. A few deliver the sunshine of laughter. One may offer a slender shoulder for you to cry on. One might listen while you whine, while another may speak the truth even when it hurts. One girlfriend may bring a casserole when you are sick, still another offers a prayer for healing. Pals will compliment you, hug you, watch your kids, and send you a birthday card. Or they might call once a year just to catch up on life. Whatever type of friends filter through your life, true healthy friendships are a gift from God.
We learn the importance of friendship at a very early age. Children have no material possessions to boast about and have no money so they value friendship in high esteem. Most kids base success on their friends. When a child heads for the lunch bench at school, they long for others that want to sit with them. Birthday parties are great events in their little lives. Equally, it is very sad to see a little one sitting alone, detached from others in school or walking at recess along the wired fence all by themselves.
Throughout our lives, we long for friendship. This fact is supported by television shows. Viewers loyally tune into specific shows throughout the decades displaying themes of friendship. We hum lyrics from the Cheers theme song “Sometimes you want to go, where everybody knows your name, and they’re always glad you came.” We watch Friends with hopes we too might develop friends through the ups and downs of life. Who can forget the last episode of M*A*S*H when Hawkeye rises in the helicopter to go home and looks down to see his close buddy BJ take the time to write in stones, “Goodbye.”
Today’s verse, “The heartfelt counsel of a friend is as sweet as perfume and incense,” reminds us of the importance of friendship in our lives, Friendships enrich our lives. They help us through the valleys of despair and rejoice with us on the mountaintops of joy.
Friends do life with us
Friends help hold us accountable in what we do. We listen to them because they have taken the time to prove their worth. When they share difficult words we need to hear but resist, we eventually listen because we know they care. Scriptures tells us, “You use steel to sharpen steel, and one friend sharpens another” (Proverbs 27:17). Friends keep us dedicated to our agreements. We catch the passion of a friend which sharpens our desire for a closer walk with the Lord.
Of course, in order to have good friends, we must be a good friend to others. Certain qualities promote deep and lasting friendships. For example, honesty and loyalty set the foundation for friendship that can last a lifetime. Best friends are people we can trust and we want them to know they can trust us as well. Patience, kindness and a sense of humor are essential in developing and maintaining enduring friendship. Good friends can chuckle at our human foibles helping us to keep in mind that even the best friendships will have imperfections.
May we never be so involved in church activities that we forget to develop friendships. It is very easy to be so busy rapped up in our desire to do good, that we end up after many years in church alone and confused wondering why nobody knows our birthday or calls when we are absent.
Friendship! It’s one of the true riches we can have in this life.
Will you thank God today for your personal friends?
Dear Lord, Thank You for giving me a variety of friendships to help me walk the road of life. I am especially grateful for the friends who inspire me. Lord Jesus, teach me how to be a better friend. In Your Name, I pray. Amen.
Dear Lord, I am lonely today. I don’t have any close friends. Please help me to reach out to others, to move beyond my own pain of rejection and to see life with new eyes. Help me not to be so critical of others and always think others are using me for their good. I am thankful that I have a friend in Jesus. Would You please bless me with a friend in this lifetime as well? In Your name I pray. Amen.
Reliable friends who do what they say are like cool drinks in sweltering heat—refreshing! --Proverbs 25:13
Friends come and friends go, but a true friend sticks by you like family. –Proverbs 18:24
1 comment:
John 15:15 I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.
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