The Friendship Theme
July 2, 2020
This is my commandment: Love each other in the same way I have loved you. There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you slaves, because a master doesn’t confide in his slaves. Now you are my friends, since I have told you everything the Father told me. John 15:12-15 NLT
If you do a search for Scriptures on friendship, you will find that friendship is not a small topic to God. It’s a major theme throughout God’s story. First of all, the Bible tells the story of creation. God made humans to be friends with Him and friends with each other. In the beginning, Adam and Eve enjoyed beautiful friendship, the fullness of friendship. But they fractured that friendship when they sinned, and their sin led them into hiding from God and blaming each other. Humans have been following that pattern ever since, fracturing friendship with God and others. But as He did with Adam and Eve, God has always been committed to restoring true friendship.
All throughout the Old Testament we see Him restoring friendships. He did it with Enoch and Noah, who “walked with God.” That term is a Hebrew expression of friendship. Abraham was called “a friend of God.” Moses spoke with God “face-to-face, as a man speaks with his friend.” David knew Almighty God as a friend who was with him when all others failed him. David’s friendship with Jonathan is legendary. They even promised to care for each other’s families after one had died, and David followed through on that with Jonathan’s son Miphiboseth.
Solomon’s book of Proverbs is a sort of Friendship 101. Proverbs gives us wisdom for navigating our relationships. It doesn’t just address relationships in general, but also friendship in particular. For example, there are many proverbs teaching us what to look for in finding true friends (Prov. 13:20, 22:24-25). It shows us why loyalty is so important for developing true and lasting friendship (18:24; 19:6; 27:9–10). It also shows us the things that destroy friendships and says that one thing most damaging to friendship is spreading secrets (16:28; 17:9).
Interestingly, the biblical account shows us that sin was not the world’s original problem. It was solitude. God said, “It is not good that man is alone” and so He made a helper, a friend, for him. It still isn’t good for us to be alone. We need the friendship of Jesus and each other.
- Thank Jesus that He is a friend to sinners and became your friend when you were a sinner.
- Thank God for your friends in the community of faith and pray for them.