True Friends

In facebook I always catch myself accepting a friend request from someone I don’t know.  The usual thing that I check is the “mutual friends” part.  Some I guess want to “friend” me because I am a friend of a friend, or sometimes it’s because there is a group or organization that connects us.  But it really hits me when the birthdays come up.  I find it hard to greet someone I don’t know a “happy birthday”.  I know I can just type it in their wall, and they will appreciate it.  But it seems very superficial to me.  So I usually don’t.  Whether they’re hurt or not I don’t know.  Sometimes I feel guilty, but realizing that facebook is just a social site, and not real life, the guilt usually flies away.  Of course this does not mean that I will not send a greeting from time to time to someone I don't really know, but generally I find it hard to greet someone I don't know.

Actually, that should work even for our real friends.  There are some who take facebook so seriously that when a friend does not respond, react or greet they are affected.  We need to be reminded that facebook is not real life.

Anyway, this lead me to reflect, and research – what does God say about true friends?  Who are our true friends?  Allow me to share what I have found.  It will help us bring our friends through the litmus test, and also test what kind of a friend we are.
1.  A true friend will not lead us away from the Lord.
Deuteronomy 13:6-8 (NIV)
6 If your very own brother, or your son or daughter, or the wife you love, or your closest friend secretly entices you, saying, "Let us go and worship other gods" (gods that neither you nor your fathers have known,
7 gods of the peoples around you, whether near or far, from one end of the land to the other),
8 do not yield to him or listen to him. Show him no pity. Do not spare him or shield him.

2.  A true friend will love at all times. 
Proverbs 17:17 (NIV)
17 A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.
Let’s admit it, there are many times we are unlovable!  Those who love us no matter what are our true friends.

3.  A true friend is not just there because you have the money, or because you’re popular, or you have a nice car. 
Proverbs 18:24 (NIV)
24 A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a broth

4.  A true friend can be brutally honest, even when it hurts him to say it.  There are always times when we have to “wound” a friend.
Proverbs 27:6 (NIV)
6 Wounds from a friend can be trusted, but an enemy multiplies kisses.

5.  A true friend will give earnest, good and righteous counsel. 
Proverbs 27:9 (NIV)
9 Perfume and incense bring joy to the heart, and the pleasantness of one's friend springs from his earnest counsel.

6.  A true friends will help a friend who has fallen.  This works also in relation to sin – a true friend will help a Christian get up from his sin, and not leave him to be kicked around by the devil.
Ecclesiastes 4:10 (NIV)
10 If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up!

7.  A true friend will lay down his life for a true friend.
John 15:13 (NIV)
13 Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.

This is why many consider Jesus as the truest of true friends.  Why?  Not only did Jesus lay down His life for us, but He lay down His life for us while we were still sinners!  That’s how much He loved us – enough to give up His life.  He did not have to, and He shouldn’t have.  But He did.  This is what makes Him the greatest friend that anyone can have.  It lasts up to eternity.