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True Friendship



     When friendship comes to my mind, I think of two relationships in Scripture. They are Jesus and John and David and Jonathan. Jonathan loved David as his soul.1  John was the one that Jesus loved, and you can see it in the gospel of John.2 Not because Jesus showed it so much, but by the in-depth writing, John provides you can see how close they were. John was always with Jesus. John was so close to Jesus; he leaned on the chest of Jesus and asked Christ, who would betray him at the last supper. We see the same closeness between Jonathan and David when Jonathan sought to save David, when Saul’s edict to kill David, went out. 3  These two examples are what I believe God wants with us and wants us to desire to have with Him and His body.

     The mentioned examples of friendship are the friendship we find deep in the fellowship that John speaks of in 1 John 1:1-10. Godly friendship is a friendship that is not one-sided. It is a bond that is not given up for futile momentary fleshly gratifications.4 This goldy friendship is the best friendship a righteous man can choose to have. 5 It is one that fly’s in the face of this world. The world determines associations in wealth and success.6 God does not. He is friends with the poor. 7 This godly friendship that is a deep portion of the fellowship covers transgressions to promote love and unity and does not repeat the matter to divide the union. 8  We can easily see why our best friends in the world are in the fellowship of the brotherhood. Our brethren are the only ones who truly know what friendship is.9

     The world, on the other hand, is full of angry perverse men who sow strife and whisper about things that tear brothers apart. 10 We must be cautious about those we let affect us. 11 They do not care why we live the way we do. They will not help us get Heaven. The world focuses on worldly things. Those friendships are to our detriment. Yes, we can seek to save the lost.12   Save a soul and then befriend them. Another option is to befriend them knowing two things, one that you need to be the influencer and two, one day, the Gospel may be the cause of the demise of your relationship.

     That is why those two examples of friendship, Jesus and John and David and Jonathan, stick out to me so much. I think they are a strong example of how we are to be towards God and the called out. I think we miss this point when we make Christianity about do’s and don’ts and not a manner of life. Friendship is critical. It can mean the success or failure of our Christian walk.


1.       1 Samuel 18:1 NKJV
2.       John 21:20-24 NKJV
3.       1 Samuel 20 NKJV
4.       James 4:4 NKJV
5.       Proverbs 12:26 NKJV
6.       Proverbs 14:20, 19:4,7 NKJV
7.       Matthew 5:3 NKJV
8.       Probers 17:9a; 1 John 1:8-10, 2:1-6, 4:10 NKJV
9.       Proverbs 18:24a; Ephesians 4:4-6; Acts 4:32 NKJV
10.   Proverbs 16:28a, 22:24 NKJV
11.    1 Corinthians 5:1-8, 6:14 NKJV
12.   Luke 19:10; Matthew 28:18-20 NKJV


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