A Friend

"A man who has friends must himself be friendly, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother."                                                 Proverbs 18:24    NKJV

We all need friends, especially in the dark and troubled times of our life. But true and faithful friends are hard to come by and are built upon trust. Therefore we must choose wisely. There are probably many who we can call our friend, but we need to be careful who we choose to divulge our problems with. What we must avoid, is to go to as many friends as we can until we get the answer we are hoping for. A true and honest friend will say it as it is and put you right where you are tending to go wrong. They'll do it in love but, they mean it, because they are true friends. They will laugh and cry with you and will never share your secrets with anyone else.

Aa I have said, a true friend is hard to come by and once you have found one, you need to cherish it. But the friendship must come from both sides. Jesus mentioned this in Matthew 7:12, 'Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.' We usually call it the Golden Rule and you'll receive gold from your friendship as you give gold yourself.

The verse above can be interpreted as two-fold, firstly it points to the friendship that we have just been looking at. Secondly, it can be described as the love Jesus has for each of us. James Taylor, the singer songwriter who has written many songs that feature Christian lyrics, wrote, 'You've got a friend' back in the 70's. Here, this song sums up what I am saying:

When you're down and troubled and you need a helping hand
And nothing, oh, nothing is going right. Close your eyes and think of me
And soon I will be there to brighten up even your darkest nights
You just call out my name and you know wherever I am
I'll come running, oh, yeah, baby to see you again
Winter, spring, summer or fall all you've got to do is call
And I'll be there, yeah, yeah, yeah, You've got a friend   Copyright James Taylor

These verses can be received as a friend with his or her friend, or our relationship with Jesus. We know that we only have to call on Jesus and, He will be there. And we also know, that a true friend will also do their best to be there for you as well.

Have you got a true friend like this? Could you be a true friend to someone else? You know that Jesus is a true friend to you. Are you a true friend to Him?

That is food for thought!

Copyright 2023 Grahame Howard.                                

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