Godly friendships were designed by God from Genesis.
If God knew you could live on earth alone and fulfil your purpose, He would have created just you. I say this all the time to friends and family.
The only time God acknowledged His creation was incomplete was after he created Adam (Gen 2:18). He added, “it is not good for man to be alone”. God created Eve as a helpmeet and friend to Adam.
Every human being desires to have someone they can confide in and share their lives and everyone has had a friend at one or all stages of their lives.
Have your childhood friendships endured the test of time?
Discover the profound impact of patience, tolerance, and forgiveness on maintaining meaningful relationships.
Today, the bonds of friendship and marriage often face challenges, stemming from impatience and an unforgiving attitude. This blog delves into the inspiring examples of Godly friendships in the Bible, providing insights on how to nurture and emulate these valuable connections.
How to maintain Godly friendships
We will maintain stronger friendships if we invest time in building sacrificially.
James. 4:11 “Brothers and sisters, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against a brother or sister or judges them speaks against the law and judges it. When you judge the law, you are not keeping it, but sitting in judgment on it.”
True friendship entails sacrifice and love. It implies giving, sharing, and supporting each other in all circumstances. Jesus defines sacrificial friendship in 3 John 15:13 “Greater Love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends”.
Example of true friendship
A vivid example can be seen in 1 Sam 18:1-4. “As soon as he had finished speaking to Saul, the soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul. And Saul took him that day and would not let him return to his father’s house. Then Jonathan made a covenant with David because he loved him as his own soul. And Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that was on him and gave it to David, and his armor, and even his sword and his bow and his belt”.
As Christians, we have to be really cautious about the people we consider friends. “The righteous choose their friends carefully, but the way of the wicked leads them astray”. Prov 12:26.
Friendships are always beneficial, but the kind of friends you keep should be people with spirituality and integrity who can motivate you to build a positive relationship with God. As unnoticed as it may sometimes seem, “Do not be misled: “Bad company corrupts good character.”( 1 Corin 15:33).
Sometimes, our friends may reject us and abandoned us because of irreconcilable differences, but we should remember God is our ultimate friend, and he will never reject us.
I encourage equally to refuse to give up on God because someone doesn’t treat us friendly. We might get tired of trying to maintain some friendships, but God never gets tired to be with us.
What are the qualities of Godly friendships?
Solomon’s advice in Prov 22:24-25 “Do not make friends with a hot-tempered person, do not associate with one easily angered, or you may learn their ways and get yourself ensnared” can be a guide in selecting your friends.
Like Job’s friends, our friends are expected to show love and compassion in both hard and good times. “…they set out from their homes and met together by agreement to go and sympathize with him and comfort him.” Job 2:11.
We see in Prov 18:24 “One who has unreliable friends soon comes to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother”, some friendships supersede family relationships. Friendships can be an unbreakable bond if we deliberately invest to keep it with love.
“A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for a time of adversity”. Prov 17:17.
Some self-reflection questions.
Are you a reliable friend to your friends?
Are you honest and do you treat them like yourself?
It is pathetic if we cannot keep good friendships. God stresses the importance of friendships through Solomon in Eccle 4:9-10, “Two are better than one because they have a good return for their labor: If either of them falls down, one can help the other up. But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up”.
True friends need to always pray with and for each other at all times. Christian friendship entails jointly building a relationship that is directed to God. Like Job says, “My intercessor is my friend as my eyes pour out tears to God; on behalf of a man he pleads with God as one pleads for a friend”. Job 16:20-21.
God regards us as friends, not servants.
We are friends of God. What is a privilege? God doesn’t see us as enemies, despite our mistakes. He loves us unconditionally.
“My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.” John 15:12-15.
Jesus considers us loving our friends as a command. Thus, we need to be deliberate and willing to maintain our relationships despite the disagreements that might arise sometimes.
I encourage you to treasure your friends and share with them what God has revealed to you through his Word, just like Jesus did.
Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. Phil 2:3-4.
Jesus’ definition of true friendship can only be compared to our relationship with God. Therefore, we can use the above-listed scriptural guides to strengthen our Godly friendships with both God and man.
