Friendship is more than just hanging out and having fun experiences together. These are the easy expressions of friendship. The greater vision of friendship is spiritual, leading to mutual growth in wisdom and righteousness before God.
Faithfulness among Friends
Friends who are open and honest with you when you need to hear the truth are valuable friends. Friends who say they love and care for you but don’t express it by truth-telling when it really needs to be done are morally useless as friends.
A true friend cares enough to confront and will risk confrontation for the sake of his friend’s well being. He is faithful to friendship. He is faithful to his friend. He is faithful before God. Bottom line, he can be relied upon to seek the best, truly God’s best, for his friends.
Some who say they are friends, are not, but rather enemies. Such a person might disguise himself with flattery or gracious words. Such so-called friends are all show and no substance, profuse in their words, kind acts, and frivolities.
These so-called friends will oppose your true friends when they “wound” you. This Proverb is instructing us to be wise and resist pride, and listen to the faithful friend, not the false one.
Commitment among Friends
Have you ever been through this whole experience, from either side of the truth-telling friendship, and experienced the dynamics, the tensions, the conversations, the inner struggles; and hopefully the joy, peace, and righteousness of it all?
True friends can count on one another to tell the truth, and do so with wisdom and maturity. They trust one another in their dealings to truly assist one another in life and character.
You might be surprised at what people do after learning, but not truly understanding, certain biblical principles. The goal is not to go out and wound a friend every day. Nor is it to go ask people what they think of you and try to make them tell you bad things only to get mad at them for telling you and assert your own view of yourself.
God provides true friendships for our happiness, our support, and our growth. Pray for such friendships and that He would turn you into such a great friend.
Proverbs 27:5–6 ESV “Better is open rebuke than hidden love. Faithful are the wounds of a friend; profuse are the kisses of an enemy.”These verse from Proverbs teach us about faithfulness and commitment in our friendships.
Faithfulness among Friends
Friends who are open and honest with you when you need to hear the truth are valuable friends. Friends who say they love and care for you but don’t express it by truth-telling when it really needs to be done are morally useless as friends.
A true friend cares enough to confront and will risk confrontation for the sake of his friend’s well being. He is faithful to friendship. He is faithful to his friend. He is faithful before God. Bottom line, he can be relied upon to seek the best, truly God’s best, for his friends.
Some who say they are friends, are not, but rather enemies. Such a person might disguise himself with flattery or gracious words. Such so-called friends are all show and no substance, profuse in their words, kind acts, and frivolities.
These so-called friends will oppose your true friends when they “wound” you. This Proverb is instructing us to be wise and resist pride, and listen to the faithful friend, not the false one.
Commitment among Friends
Have you ever been through this whole experience, from either side of the truth-telling friendship, and experienced the dynamics, the tensions, the conversations, the inner struggles; and hopefully the joy, peace, and righteousness of it all?
True friends can count on one another to tell the truth, and do so with wisdom and maturity. They trust one another in their dealings to truly assist one another in life and character.
You might be surprised at what people do after learning, but not truly understanding, certain biblical principles. The goal is not to go out and wound a friend every day. Nor is it to go ask people what they think of you and try to make them tell you bad things only to get mad at them for telling you and assert your own view of yourself.
God provides true friendships for our happiness, our support, and our growth. Pray for such friendships and that He would turn you into such a great friend.
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