What is a Friend?
What is a Friend? The Bible has a lot to say on what a friend is, and how a friend should act. The Bible also says how to gain friends.
First, lets look at how to gain or make friends. In Proverbs 18:24, it says that in order to have friends, you must be friendly to people. In other words, if you are not friendly to other people, people will not want to be our friends. So, rather than complaining that you don’t have friends, you should go out, be friendly, and make friends.
As a warning though, Proverbs 19:6 says that every man is a friend of someone who gives gifts, meaning that people naturally like people who give them things. This is different than a true friendship, and should be taken as a warning to be careful with people.
Now that we see how to have friends, we should look at what a friend does.
Proverbs 27:9 says that “Ointment and perfume rejoice the heart: so doth the sweetness of a man’s friend by hearty counsel”. This means that just as perfumes and ointments make one feel better, counsel from a friend who truly cares makes one feel better as well. We should encourage our friends, and, when the time calls for it, give them advice and counsel.
When following the advice in that verse, one should keep in mind Proverbs 27:14, which states “He that blesseth his friend with a loud voice, rising early in the morning, it shall be counted a curse to him”. You need to pick the proper time to offer advice, as the verse says, you may say something nice, but if you do it at the wrong time, all you will accomplish is angering your friend.
Proverbs 27:17 says that “Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend.”. What the verse is saying is that friends make other friends stronger and better. Also, note how the verse says Iron sharpens Iron. We should be careful to choose friends who reflect our beliefs, otherwise we could weaken our own faith. Now, that’s not saying to ignore people who don’t share our beliefs, but that we shouldn’t have them as close as we have people who believe what we believe.
I am going to assume we all know what the greatest act a friend can do. John 15:13 says “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” If we truly love our friends, we would be willing to die for them. How many of us can say that we would die for our friends?
