Proverbs 17:17: You've Got a Friend in Me

"A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity." Proverbs 17:17

If there is one thing that all of mankind has in common, it is that we all like to have friends. Perhaps there are a few that wouldn't agree, but even the most introverted people that I know still love to have a couple of friends right by their side. Friends are those whom we go to when we need a shoulder to cry on. Friends know our deepest and darkest secrets. Friends are wonderful. But, biblically speaking, what is a true friend? Furthermore, how can we be a good, faithful, biblical friends to those around us? Proverbs 17:17 helps us answer this question.

From Proverbs 17:17, we simply find that a true friend is one that loves at all times, even in adversity. We all have had those friends that seem like good friends, but then something rough happens in our life or theirs, and they're gone. Have you not had a friend like that? They seem like they'll love you until death, but as soon as adversity comes, they leave. This isn't a true friend. Furthermore, let us notice here that friends are those that love. We each can probably name a few "friends" who don't love very well. They may spend time with us, listen to us, and even comfort us, but when it comes to sacrificially serving us and putting us above themselves, they refuse. This is not a friend either. A friend loves.

So, where do we go from here? Perhaps you think this devotional is written so that you can have a pity party for yourself because you've had some crappy friends in the past. Well, not exactly. What if we took the words of Proverbs 17:17 and had them convict our hearts about where we could be better friends?

In response to this verse, let us seek to be Christians who:

1) Repent of being bad friends in the past. Perhaps this means praying to God for failing his call for friendship, or perhaps this means calling up a brother in Christ and confessing to him how you could have been a better friend.

2) Seek to be friends at all times, even in adversity. True Christian brothers and sisters do not leave when the going gets tough, but stick with his brother and sister until death. Let us be friends who do not fail eachother in adversity.

3) Be friends to those who aren't friends to us. Although we must be careful of being taken advantage of, what would it look like if we showed love even to those who failed us? Is this not what Christ did for us? Futhermore, what if we we showed love at all times to our unbelieving friends, that they may come to Christ?

So, dear reader, be a Proverbs 17:17 friend today. Love at all times, and don't leave when adversity comes. Amen.

"Good friends are amoung our greatest blessings." - J. C. Ryle