In our “Facebook age” we may tend to lose sight of the importance of true friends. If we’re not careful, we may even forget what the word “friend” really means. Friends are more than buttons on the screen, or a digital list of names in the cloud. It’s not a matter of having 200 or 500 or 10,000, but it’s a matter of having one. A true friend is a rare and beautiful thing. If you have one, even one friend, you are indeed fortunate. The Bible tells us something about the value of true friends and what friendship really means.
A true friend is someone who will tell you what you need to hear—not necessarily what you want to hear. There are two kinds of rare people in this world: the one who is willing to tell the truth at all costs, and the one who wants to hear it. Many times we think of friends as those who make us feel good, tell us what we want to hear, and “like” us on Facebook. But that is a deceptive definition of a friend. Open rebuke is better than love carefully concealed. Faithful are the wounds of a friend, But the kisses of an enemy are deceitful, (Prov. 27:5-6 NKJV). Sometimes what we need most of all is the medicine of truth. If you have someone in your life who loves you enough to tell the truth, be thankful for such a friend. As iron sharpens iron, so a man sharpens the countenance of his friend, (Prov. 27:17 NKJV).
A true friend knows you well enough to know what you need, and loves you enough to help you get it. True friends may spend their money for you, but they mainly spend something far more valuable: their time. And by spending time with you, they have come to know you well. They know your likes, your dislikes, your strengths, your weaknesses, what you want and what you need. It seems that the reason they were born is so that they will be there when you are in trouble. A friend loveth at all times; And a brother is born for adversity, (Prov. 17:17).
A true friend will be there for you when the going really gets tough. In this earthly life, it’s not a question of whether we will have problems, but when and to what degree. When times of trial and affliction come, what a blessing to have a friend. Job’s three “friends” get a bad rap, but did you notice something about Job’s choice of friends? They didn’t get a lot of things right, but they at least made an effort to visit and comfort him when he needed help. Now when Job’s three friends heard of all this evil that was come upon him, they came every one from his own place: Eliphaz the Temanite, and Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite; and they made an appointment together to come to bemoan him and to comfort him, (Job 2:11). True friends are like that, and when you are really down, “you find out who your friends are.” Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their labor. For if they fall, one will lift up his companion. But woe to him who is alone when he falls, for he has no one to help him up, (Eccl. 4:9-10 NKJV).
The best friend of all is Jesus. He that maketh many friends doeth it to his own destruction; But there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother, (Prov. 18:24). There is a friend who is truer than all others. Better than any classmate, co-worker, neighbor, or even a family member, is your Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. “I have found a friend in Jesus. He’s everything to me. He’s the fairest of ten thousand to my soul.” When you stop and think about who you would rather have there for you when the going really gets tough, there is no contest. And who would you rather have “making the case” to God for you? Throughout this life, and on the great judgment day, we need to be sure that Jesus is our friend, and we his. This is my commandment, that ye love one another, even as I have loved you. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. Ye are my friends, if ye do the things which I command you. No longer do I call you servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I heard from my Father I have made known unto you, (Jn. 15:12-15).
If you are enjoying any of the comforts of life, any of life’s richest blessings or sweetest successes, remember you are where you are because a friend cared about you. Someone helped you out. Be a friend to others! And especially, be a friend to Jesus!
-by Robert C. Veil, Jr.
A True Friend