True Friends and Family

(Prov 17:17 NLT) A friend is always loyal, and a brother is born to help in time of need.

Solomon talks to us about friends and family. He tells us that true friends are family are there for us at all times; they are there in times of adversity as well as prosperity.

It’s easy to be there for your friend or family member when everything is going well, but when the chips are down and the pressure is on those with flawed character leave friends and family behind, to face the adversity alone.

This should not be said of you. As a believer, you should seek to be faithful to God and man. Be the friend and family member that is there at all times – good or bad, up or down, success or failure. The Message Bible paraphrase of this verse reads:

“Friends love through all kinds of weather, and families stick together in all kinds of trouble.”

As I think of this verse many great examples of true friends and family, in scripture, flood through my mind. For the purpose of this lesson, I will give you just three. First, from a family perspective, I think of Joseph. His brothers betrayed him and broke the familial bond. They first thought of killing him and later decided to sell him as a slave. Over 20 years later, when Joseph was second in command of the most powerful nation on the planet, his family was suffering the results of the famine and they came to Egypt looking for help. Joseph stood above his brothers (they did not know it was him), with the power to have them killed, but the love that he had for his family conquered the resentment he had for what they did to him. Instead of having them killed he brought them in as family and blessed them. When his brothers needed him the most (in a famine) Joseph was there for them, in spite of their ill treatment of him.

Joseph was a true brother. Secondly, as a friend, I think of Jonathan. Jonathan was a true friend to Solomon’s father David. Jonathan was as an heir to Saul’s throne. As a prince he could have easily been threatened by David, especially when it was known that David was a threat to take over his father’s throne. But Jonathan and David had a special friendship. Even when his father was making attempts on David’s life, Jonathan stood by his friend and did all that he could to help David.

Jonathan was not a fair weather friend and one could easily make the argument that Jonathan did more for David than his own blood-brothers. In the next chapter Solomon tells us that we can actually have a friend that “sticks closer than a brother” (18:24). Jonathan was that type of friend. And lastly, I will use the friendship example of Paul and Barnabas. Most believers have heard of Paul. Paul wrote half the New Testament and is one of the most prominent characters in the early church. However, we would not even know about Paul without Barnabas. When Paul came to Christ no one wanted anything to do with him. He had previously persecuted the church and everyone was either too afraid or too skeptical to deal with him. But Barnabas became a true friend. Barnabas stood up for Paul, vouched for him, traveled hundreds of miles to see him, helped develop him, and eventually help usher Paul into the ministry. Barnabas was a true friend when Paul really needed one.

So what does this mean to you? It means that you are called to be a true friend and family member. A true friend is like ivy—the greater the ruin, the closer he clings. Don’t just be there for your friends and family when everything is going well. You must be determined to be there through thick and thin and if you are there for others, others will be there for you. If you sow true friendship and kinship, you will reap true friends and family!

Father, I thank You for teaching me the importance of loyalty. I declare, right now, by faith, that I will be loyal to my friends and family. I will not only be there for them when things are going good, I will also be there for them in times of distress, despair, and desperation. I am known as a good friend and family member, and as such, You use me for Your glory. You use me as the conduit through which You can reach my friends and family, because they know they can call me in trouble and that You will speak to them through me. Send me to be a blessing to others today! Use me to make an impact in the lives of friends and family, so You can get the glory out of all of our lives. In Jesus’ name. Amen!