Friendship

        "What is a friend? A single soul, dwelling in two bodies" - Aristotle

         Friend-ship is like a big boat of love that rescues you from the troubles of this world. Friends are a lifeline to which we can call upon for advice or just for a sounding board.   We treasure our true friends because of the mutual trust and loyalty that builds that special bond. Each of our friends offer something unique to the relationship because we each have individualized gifts and talents.  Friends can open us up to new things, new ideas and new places of adventure.
          Thus, having said that, it is important to remember to choose your friends wisely. Everyone you meet is not intended to be your friend.  Proverbs 12:26  "The righteous choose their friends carefully, but the way of the wicked leads them astray."
A quote I heard the other day that really struck a chord with me, "Show me your friends and I'll show you your future."  The influence of others on us can be a good thing or a bad thing. We need to be in fellowship and friendship with other believers to help keep us on the right track.  
         We also need to be friends to the world but not of the world.  We are commanded to "love one another, as ourselves" but that doesn't mean joining into the worldly ways of friendship, but by being a godly friend.  A real friend points others to God in their speech, actions and example.  "May we see each person as Jesus did: made in God’s image and worthy of His love. Let’s treat everyone we meet with Christlike equality and learn to see beauty as He does."
         We can read about many examples of friendship in the Bible.  Moses had supportive friends.  "As long as Moses held up his hands, the Israelites were winning, but whenever he lowered his hands, the Amalekites were winning.  When Moses’ hands grew tired, they took a stone and put it under him and he sat on it. Aaron and Hur held his hands up—one on one side, one on the other—so that his hands remained steady till sunset."  Don't we all need friends, like Aaron and Hur, to lend us a helping hand?  Jonathan and David had an enduring friendship through good times and bad.   "David and Jonathan had a solid friendship too, beginning with the good days of David’s victory over Goliath (1 Sam. 18:1–4). They shared their fears during the bad days of Saul’s jealousy (18:6–11; 20:1–2). Finally, they suffered together during the ugly days of Saul’s plans to kill David (20:42)." 
        Jesus is the best friend we could ever have.  Unlike us.... He is always faithful, trustworthy, unconditionally loving and forgiving.  He opened His arms wide open to us on the Cross to not only be our Savior, but our Friend.  If you want to be a friend of God, then seek to know Him as your Lord of your life.  

     James 4:4 "You adulterers! Don’t you realize that friendship with the world makes you an enemy of God? I say it again: If you want to be a friend of the world, you make yourself an enemy of God." NLT