Good Friends

After a phone conversation the other day with a very dear friend, I started thinking about my friends. All of us agree that friends are important. We need friends with whom we can just be ourselves.

Scripture says: A man of too many friends comes to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother (Proverbs 18:24). “Too many friends” seems hard to imagine, doesn’t it? That almost sounds like “too much fun” or “too much money.” Sometimes I think I would like to try either (or both) just to see how “bad” that would be. Actually, I may be wrong, but Proverbs 18:24 seems to be describing a person with a lot of friends, but none of them are close, real, or true friends. Perhaps he comes to ruin because he does not have that “friend who sticks closer than a brother.”

I have been blessed in my ministry to have served in many places in this country and abroad. I do count it a great blessing to have met and worked with many, many faithful brothers and sisters in Christ. The blessing God has given me in this regard overwhelms me when I think about it.

I currently live not far from my boyhood home and I am getting to work with and renew friendships with people I have known since childhood. I have a file that is labeled “Important Personal Letters.” It contains (you guessed it) important personal letters, but they are only important to me. They are letters I have received over the years that were of special encouragement to me. I thank God for the encouragement I receive from my friends (Philippians 1:3).

And yet, who am I? As I write this it strikes me that it sounds like this posting is all about me. I will tell you who I am. I am someone just like you. I have things that afflict me in this life just like you do. I sometimes react angrily and sinfully, full of self-pity just like you do. And I have friends that stick closer to me than a brother. And I have a Friend Who is closer than all the rest (John 15:13, 14) just like you do. I know there are some who think they do not have any friends at all. Well, even the friendless has a friend in Jesus if he will only submit himself to God.

I told my friend on the phone about my file and how I sometimes will take it out and just read through some of the letters. I do that when I am discouraged, when I feel a little nostalgic, or just when I would like a little pick-me-up. In fact, after getting off the phone, I got out my file and read some of those letters, which go back almost twenty-five years. Some of them make me laugh, some of them make me cry, but all of them encourage me. We need to remember, though, that what our Greatest Friend has written is even more valuable (2 Peter 1:3; 2 Timothy 3:16, 17). So, pick up a (the) Good Book and read of the hope you can have of eternal life provided by the Author. He loves you and so do I.

Donnie Bates