Friendship. What a beautiful part of life! The Bible has many things to say about it.
Some friendships will benefit your soul and help you to be saved, while others will be just the opposite, desiring your spiritual fall. Even so, the friendships that are blessed of God are worth pursuing and hanging onto.
Let the following scriptures guide you or remind you of healthy and unhealthy relationships with those we call our friends.
1. Friends are a good thing, and something worthy to invest in. Show some kindness to others and let your relationships bloom.
“A man that hath friends must shew himself friendly: and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother.” (Proverbs 18:24)
2. You may have friends that will do almost anything for you, but they draw the line at giving their life in order to save yours. But wow! There is a Friend that did that for you! He is even a Friend to those who don’t care to know Him. There has never been a greater friend than that!
“Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” (John 15:13)
3. What an honor to be called the friend of God! Do your thoughts, actions, faith and conversations say the same about you?
“And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God.” (James 2:23)
4. Friendship is not only pleasant it is also helpful! When you have a friend who will lift you up, you have a great treasure.
“For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow: but woe to him that is alone when he falleth; for he hath not another to help him up.” (Ecclesiastes 4:10)
5. It’s hard to swallow, but your true friends will tell you when you are wrong. Do they do it because they are evil? No. They do it because they care about your well-being. Take no offense when a friend hurts your feelings to help you. Be thankful your friend isn’t soothing your heart when they know great destruction is coming your way. Enemies do that.
“Open rebuke is better than secret love. Faithful are the wounds of a friend; but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.” (Proverbs 27:5 – 27:6)
6. Want the Lord to consider you His friend? Listen to what He says. The commandments He gives are to save you from harm. He is being a true friend to you, be a true friend to Him too.
Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.” (John 15:14)
7. Being friendly with all of the sinful ways of the world is a slap in the face of your Savior. If you love the sin going on around you, the Bible does not mince words in telling you where to stand. Don’t forget-God hates sin and what it does to destroy mankind. Don’t cling to what God wants to save you from.
“Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.” (James 4:4)
8. Have good relationships with the people around you. Always be kind and helpful. Those who sow such things will reap the same when tragedy and difficulties come their way.
“Thine own friend, and thy father’s friend, forsake not; neither go into thy brother’s house in the day of thy calamity: for better is a neighbour that is near than a brother far off.” (Proverbs 27:10)
9. Forgiveness is a necessary ingredient in friendship. God forgives you when you make mistakes big and small. He knows the intentions of your heart and forgives your human failures. He wants you to do the same. Ending a friendship in a moment of failure is an extreme consequence passed out to a friendship you’ve had for years.
“Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye.” (Colossians 3:13)
10. Find yourself some friends that challenge you to be a better version of yourself.
“Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend.” (Proverbs 27:17)
11. Good company, good fellowship and good conversation all make the heart glad. Be that kind of friend to those you care about.
“Ointment and perfume rejoice the heart: so doth the sweetness of a man’s friend by hearty counsel.” (Proverbs 27:9)
12. Sometimes the best comfort you can give to a hurting friend is your presence. No words, no advice. Just your presence, and shared tears.
“Now when Job’s three friends heard of all this evil that was come upon him, they came every one from his own place; Eliphaz the Temanite, and Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite: for they had made an appointment together to come to mourn with him and to comfort him.” (Job 2:11)
13. Don’t let your friends carry their heavy hearts alone! Be there to listen and let them know they’re not alone.
“Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.” (Galatians 6:2)
14. Choose your close companions wisely. Be kind to everyone but limit your time with the ones that will affect your soul negatively. His ways can rub off on you!
“Make no friendship with an angry man; and with a furious man thou shalt not go: Lest thou learn his ways, and get a snare to thy soul.” (Proverbs 22:24 – 22:25)
15. When you pray for your friends, your compassionate heart is open before the Lord. He sees the compassion you have for others, and He in return will have compassion on you.
“And the LORD turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends: also the LORD gave Job twice as much as he had before.” (Job 42:10)