TRUE FRIENDS

Closer Than A Brother

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

Just because you are biologically related to someone does not mean that they are going to be for you. Think of the story of Joseph and his brothers. Joseph was envied by his brothers because his father seemed to favor him the most. Joseph told his brothers of his dreams. He was not trying to make them feel bad, he was just naïve enough to think that it would not cause them to hate him. Sometimes people who are not hateful do not expect others to hate them.

Despite all that his brothers did to him, Joseph was merciful and forgiving and helped them during the famine. Now that they needed him, he could have taken the opportunity to exact revenge. Joseph’s willingness to help his brothers during their time of need shows his heart. Although he had suffered greatly because of their actions towards him, he was able to love his enemies.

Even though we may never have a “true” friend in our lifetime, we can still strive to be a true friend to others. A true friend will never speak badly about us behind our backs. If someone speaks badly about us, they will defend us. A true friend rejoices when we are blessed. There is no envy but rather a heartfelt desire to see us to be prosperous and greatly blessed. A true friend will lift us up in prayer when we are going through trials. They will not judge but rather empathize with us when we are feeling the weight of the world.

In other words, a true friend gives us unconditional love. We do not have to be perfect to be loved and supported by them. If we decided to only love those who are perfect, we would only be able to love God. God has told us to love others as we love ourselves. When we love others as we love ourselves, it makes it easy to rejoice when they are blessed. The same way we would rejoice if we were the recipient of the blessing.

Jesus showed us what it truly means to love as a friend when He said “greater love has no man than this that a man lay down His life for his friends”