A Friend

The friendship that can cease has never been real.

St Jerome 

  I have not been much of a friend to those I needed to be a friend to.   

 It is better to be destitute and have someone you can trust than own the whole world without anyone you can trust.  If the only thing you ever have in this life is a  friend you have more than if you own the whole world yet you have no one you can trust. 

When I began to know in my heart how much God is my friend, I  was more able to be a friend. 

If you have hurt yourself by not being a friend of anyone, God does not want to condemn you. He wants to help you turn back to being a friend.  

1 John 3:23 And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us.

 

A true friend loves you from the heart, even if you have not acted in a way that you think deserves love. 

Proverbs 17:17 A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for a time of adversity.

MAtthew 11:19 The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.’ But wisdom is proved right by her deeds.”

1 John 4:11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

A true friend will only ever  encourage you to represent the truth.  

Deuteronomy 5:29 Oh, that their hearts would be inclined to fear me and keep all my commands always, so that it might go well with them and their children forever!

A true friend does not withhold kindness. 

Job 6:14 Anyone who withholds kindness from a friend forsakes the fear of the Almighty.

 A true friend will tell the truth. 

Job 42:7 After the Lord had said these things to Job, he said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “I am angry with you and your two friends, because you have not spoken the truth about me, as my servant Job has.

A true friend hurts when you hurt

Psalm 35:14 I went about mourning as though for my friend or brother. I bowed my head in grief as though weeping for my mother.

A true friend is trustworthy

Proverbs 11:13 A gossip betrays a confidence, but a trustworthy person keeps a secret

Proverbs 12:22 The Lord detests lying lips, but he delights in people who are trustworthy.

A true friend will always be honest with you, even if it offends you.  

Proverbs 27:6 Wounds from a friend can be trusted, but an enemy multiplies kisses.

Leviticus 19:17 ‘Do not hate a fellow Israelite in your heart. Rebuke your neighbor frankly so you will not share in their guilt.

A true friend will not forsake you. 

Proverbs 27:10 Do not forsake your friend or a friend of your family, and do not go to your relative’s house when disaster strikes you— better a neighbor nearby than a relative far away.

A true friend  wants to help you more than he wants material possessions.  

Luke 16:9 I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings.

A true friend wants your emotional well being more than he wants his own.

John 3:29 The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom’s voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete.

A true friend values your life ahead of his own.

John 15:13 Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.

  

A true friend is obedient to the truth. 

John 15:14 You are my friends if you do what I command.

A true friend tells you what he knows is true to help you.  

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.

Deuteronomy 4:9 Only be careful, and watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let them fade from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and to their children after them. 

A true friend takes care of you when you cannot take care of you

Acts 24:23 He ordered the centurion to keep Paul under guard but to give him some freedom and permit his friends to take care of his needs.

A true friend wants nothing more than he wants you.  

James 4:4 You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.

Luke 10:25-37 

The Parable of the Good Samaritan

25 On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

26 “What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?”

27 He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”

28 “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”

29 But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”

30 In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. 31 A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. 32 So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. 34 He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. 35 The next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’

36 “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”

37 The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.”

Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”