Father, we thank you for Jesus, our saviour and our friend.
Friends are an important part of our relationships with others, but it helps to choose our friends carefully. Friends can be there to help us but friends can also turn us away from things we know are right. We'll have a look at a few examples below, but first - just what is friendship?
Friendship has a number of definitions ranging from "to denote co-operative and supportive behavior" to "the quality or condition of being friends". Most of the definitions I looked at didn't seem too helpful, so perhaps we can look at what we understand friends should be as part of the discussion. To me it means someone who I like to be with or I think fondly of, when we're apart. Perhaps that's a little one sided. Perhaps I'm friends with people who may not be friends with me.
But to me one of the conditions of friendship is the concept of giving and not asking for something in return, of a relationship which benefits (at least) the other party. Jesus message in Luke 6 verses 27-38 talks about demonstrating love (and friendship) to others in a manner more than that of 'sinners'. Verse 32 says this
"For if ye love them which love you, what thank have ye? for sinners also love those that love them."
Jesus' parable, usually called the parable of the prodigal son, shows us how sometimes friends can be very shallow. While the son had money and was living a life of pleasure he had plenty of friends, but once the money was gone, his friends were gone too.
Another example of friendship that stands out is that of David and Jonathan. We know just how strong that is because David records it as "thy love to me was wonderful, passing the love of women". Where some people misunderstand this verse, thinking that it is to do with homosexually, the fact is that it means something along the lines of commitment or devotion rather than a physical love (which is a different word in the Hebrew entirely) and the phrase is more usually used in the context of loving their own soul or God's love for us. In the extreme it can be stronger than death. For example, "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends". And that verse takes us straight to the most important friend we'll ever have; Jesus Christ.
We may not always do what pleases our friends. Sometimes we fall out. Yet Jesus is our friend always, as long as we come back to him. Hebrews 13:5 records these words;
"I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee."
If you've seen the film Shrek, there's a nice scene when Donkey says "Friends forgive each other". That's exactly what friends do. Jesus will forgive us, if we ask him too.
What do we understand friends should be? What defines a 'friend'?