Friendship seems to be the ‘in’ topic at the moment. Everywhere I find articles about friendship making friends, keeping friends, letting go of friends, dealing with friends in specific situations. I’ve written several myself on the topic. It all made me wonder why friendship has recently become such a big topic.
Is it because people are so pressured for time and time poor in today’s society that relationships, whether that be romantic or friendly relationships are the first to suffer? Is it because people move more often than they did in earlier times and those moves often put people further away from family so friends become more important. Or alternatively because moving prompts a case of out of sight out of mind’ and friends are lost? I’d like to hear your thoughts.
The Harbor by Carla Neggers, a novel, it had this to say ‘People tended not to like people who always fretted about whether or not they were liked.’ I think there’s some truth in that. People who are confident and expect people to like them, are usually those others gravitate towards. People who constantly worry about how others view them, are focusing on themselves rather than the person they are talking to. How much to you listen to what other are saying or are you one who talks a lot and can’t wait for someone to finish before adding your words.
What does the bible – our guide book for living- have to say about friends? Proverbs says:
Proverbs 17:17 ‘A friend loves at all times’
So a friend is not looking at having their say and bemoaning their problems, so much as listening to and caring for others. That then shows in their actions.
Proverbs 18:24 provides a warning and a blessing ‘A man of many friends comes to ruin, But there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.’
That friend is Jesus the one who will always listen, never let us down, never break a promise, and never tell a secret. I’ve had two friends recently struggling with the fact that a friend they trusted had told their secret to others.
‘Wealth brings friends,’ Proverbs 19:4. But how long do they stay around and are they sort of friends you’d want?
Proverbs 19:6 Everyone is a friend to him who gives gifts. There’s two ways of reading this verse. People only connect with others for what they can get out of them and that seems to fit with the idea of verse 4 that wealth adds many friends. But what sort of friends are they? Fair-weather friends it would appear.
I like to think verse 6 means those who are generous with what they have, be it love, time, or money, will attract people to them. There is something attractive about a generous person.Does that describe you?
Bible verses taken from The New International Version except for the quote of Proverbs 18:24 which is from the The New American Standard Version.
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