An old Arab saying defines friend as one to whom we may pour out all the contents of our hearts, chaff and grain together, knowing that the gentlest of hands will take and sift it, keep what is worth keeping and with the breath of kindness blow the rest away. In our short thoughts for this week, let us examine what the Bible say about friends, and the true meaning of friendship.

Prov.17:17 A friend loveth at all times and a brother is born of adversity.

A friend loveth at all times. It means that a true friend will care for you 24 hrs a day, morning, noon, and night time, winter, spring, summer, or fall. From this verse we can see that a true friend must be constant with the relationship. Not only when things are going smoothly but even in the tough times of life. Friends are needed for support and encouragement when the burden and pressures of life weigh heavily upon us. Many times in our life we thought that we have a good friend in somebody only to find out that when real problem arises he or she is nowhere to be found. Without constancy there will never be a true friendship.

Ruth 1:16-17 And Ruth said, Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee:for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge;thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God. Where thou diest, will i die, and there will i be buried:the Lord do so to me, if ought but death part thee and me.

We all know the story of Ruth, how her husband died and after that how she remained faithful to her mother in law. Ruth was a perfect example in constancy in relationship with her mother in law, and in the end it was rewarded for we know that she married Boaz and in the last part of the book of Ruth we can read that they had a son, Obed and Obed begat Jesse, and Jesse begat David, and through David came Jesus Christ. So Ruth is the great, great grandmother of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Friendship is one of the prize gem of human relationship. It carries with it the joy and mutual understanding that makes life colorful, interesting and rewarding. You can never replace a friend and if you're fortunate enough to have several friends you will find that they are all different. No one has a double in friendship.

Friends can make all the difference in the world. If you're facing a mountain and there's a friend to help you the mountain will shrink to half the size. Friends double our joy and divides our load.

In Mark 2 we have this thought explained. We have there the incident where the palsied man's friends helped him even to the point of uncovering the roof to get to the place where Jesus is and to help their friend's need.

1Sam 18:1-And it came to pass, when he had made an end of speaking unto Saul, that the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul.

One of the most outstanding human friendship recorded in the scriptures was that of Jonathan And David. Although Jonathan was the natural heir to his father's throne, King Saul, he did not hate David and come to view him as a rival but Jonathan recognized that God'd favor was on David. So Jonathan's very soul became bound up with the soul of David and Jonathan become to love him as his own soul. It just prove to us the old saying that says "friendship is a single soul dwelling in two bodies."

Prov 18:1-A man that hath friends must shew himself friendly and there is a friend that sticketh closer to a brother.

As they say "charity begins at home" so friendship begins with you. It means to have one friend you must be one. You must set an example to your friends. The kind of friends you will have depends on how you treat them. Friends are to be respected, loved, not to be insulted or degraded. So,in order to find a true friend you must be a true friend yourself.

Today you can go to school and study how to win friends and influence people. They will really teach you how.They will also teach you how to manipulate others and use the relationship for some personal gain. Solomon in exploring friendship makes a different proposal. To win friends be a friend. Truly care about the other person rather than use him for some personal gain.

Prov 27:10-Thine own friend, and thy father's friend, forsake not; neither go into thy brother's house in the day of calamity: for better is a neighbor that is near than a brother far off.

We must have special respect to our friends and those who have been friends of the family. It is a duty we owe to our parents when they are gone to love their friends for they are tried friends.

In 1 Kings 11 and 1 Kings 12 we have the story of Rehoboam who did not listen to the advices of his fathers friends and instead he listened to the advices of those who think are his friends and we know that the result was destruction for him.

Prov 27.6-Faithful are the wounds of a friend but the kisses of the enemy is deceitful.

Solomon invites us to evaluate our attitude to those who profess to be our friends. Do we prefer the flatterer-the person who has nothing but praises for us while were with him. He/She may very well be an enemy. You can tell a true friend by his willingness to wound you when a wound is necessary for your own good. Again, not everyone who hurt you is a friend but you should be able to tell the difference between a person who tell us something that is hurtful and say, now, this is for your own good and a person who really care and shows caring by telling the truth in love. Solomon's insights are just valid today as they were 3,000 years ago. Friendship calls for honesty exercised in best interest of another and appreciating such honesty from others even when it hurts.

Prov 27:5-Open rebuke is better than secret love.

Why is open rebuke better than secret love? It is because such secret love is morally useless. It fails to tell its object his or her faults and thus leave him/her a vacuum without any information that might lead to reform.

John 15:13-Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

Jesus is our true friend. He will never forsake or leave you. He is ready to hurt you when it is needed for your own good. He sticketh closer than a brother. He laid his life for his friends. When all our earthly friends are gone, Our true friend Jesus is still there to comfort us, to encourage us and to help lift us up. He is our friend who loveth at all times. Won't you like to be one of Jesus' friends? The decision is yours!!!