Feb.07.07: Light for the Day - "What is A Friend?"  (<<)  (>>)

-- John 15:13-16
13 Greater love has no one than this, 
   that he lay down his life for his friends.
14 You are My friends if you do what I command.
15 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.
16 You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed
   you to go and bear fruit -- fruit that will last. Then the Father 
   will give you whatever you ask in My name.

---

"What is the secret of your life?" asked Mrs. Browning of 
Charles Kingsley. "Tell me, that I may make mine beautiful, too."
He replied: "I had A friend."

A friend is one who knows all about you and 
loves you all the same -- Charles Kingsley

You cannot buy a friend. They are God-given 
and their friendship lasts throughout eternity. -- Anonymous

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What is A Friend?

A group of friends were gathered together for a time of 
social fellowship. The conversation drifted to the subject 
of friendship and athlete said: "In my opinion, a friend is 
a balancing pole that enables us to walk the tightrope of 
life without falling."

Said a physician, "I believe a friend may be likened to a 
soft bandage and a soothing ointment for the cuts and 
bruises of life."

To a botanist it seemed that "a friend is a vine that clings
to us and hides the discrepancies and rough places of life," 
to which a florist added: "Yes, and the greater the ruin, 
the closer a friend clings."

"A friend is a golden link in the chain of life," said a jeweler.

A woman in mourning responded, "A friend is one who 
comes in when the whole world goes out."

"The best friend of all," said a white-haired man of eighty, 
"is Jesus, who said, "Greater love hath no man than this, 
that a man lay down his life for his friends."

-- Illustrated Incidents

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Love much. There is no waste in freely giving;
More blessed is it, even than to receive,.
He who loves much, alone finds life worth living;
Love on, though doubt and darkness; and believe
There is nothing which love may not achieve.
-- Ella Wheeler Wilcox

God gives us our relatives -- 
thank God we can choose our friends. -- Mumford

To the query, "What is a friend?" his reply was 
"A single soul dwelling in two bodies." -- Aristotle

To God, thy country, and thy friend be true. -- Vaughan. 

I have three kinds of friends: those who love me, those who 
pay no attention to me, and those who detest me. -- Chamfort

He is a friend indeed who proves himself a friend in need.
-- Plautus . 

There is no man so friendless but that he can find a friend 
sincere enough to tell him disagreeable truths. -- Lytton 

The difficulty is not so great to die for a friend as to find 
a friend worth dying for. -- Henry Home 

There is nothing more becoming any wise man, than to 
make choice of friends, for by them thou shalt be judged 
what thou art: let them therefore be wise and virtuous, 
and none of those that follow thee for gain; but make 
election rather of thy betters, than thy inferiors. 
-- Sir Walter Raleigh 

‘Tis thus that on the choice of friends
Our good or evil name depends. -- Gay

Be slow to fall into friendship; but when thou art in 
continue firm and constant. -- Socrates 

We cannot expect the deepest friendship unless we are 
willing to pay the price, a self-sacrificing love. -- Peloubet  

False friends are like our shadow, keeping close to us 
while we walk in the sunshine, but leaving us the instant 
we cross into the shade. -- Bovee  

Be slow in choosing a friend, slower in changing -- Franklin 

The greatest medicine is a true friend. -- Sir W. Temple 

True friends visit us in prosperity only when invited, but in
adversity they come without invitation. -- Theophrastus  

True happiness consists not in the multitude of friends, 
but in the worth and choice. -- Dr. Johnson 

---

-- Luke 5:20; 7:34-35; 11:5-10
5:20 When Jesus saw their faith, He said, 
   "Friend, your sins are forgiven."

7:34 The Son of Man, on the other hand, feasts and drinks, 
   and you say, ‘He’s a glutton and a drunkard, and a friend 
   of tax collectors and other sinners!’
7:35 But wisdom is shown to be right by the lives of 
   those who follow it.”

11:5 Then, teaching them more about prayer, He used this 
   story: “Suppose you went to a friend’s house at midnight, 
   wanting to borrow three loaves of bread. You say to him,
11:6 ‘A friend of mine has just arrived for a visit, 
   and I have nothing for him to eat.’
11:7 And suppose he calls out from his bedroom, 
   ‘Don’t bother me. The door is locked for the night, 
   and my family and I are all in bed. I can’t help you.’
11:8 But I tell you this -- though he won’t do it for friendship’s
   sake, if you keep knocking long enough, he will get up 
   and give you whatever you need because of your 
   shameless persistence.

11:9 “And so I tell you, keep on asking, and you will 
   receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will 
   find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you.
11:10 For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks,
   finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.

-- Romans 16:5 
   Greet also the church that meets at their house. Greet 
   my dear friend Epenetus, who was the first convert to 
   Christ in the province of Asia.

-- Philippians 4:1 
   So, brothers and sisters, I love you and miss you. You are 
   my joy and my crown. Therefore, dear friends, 
   keep your relationship with the Lord firm!

-- James 2:22-24
22 You see that Abraham’s faith and what he did worked
   together. His faith was shown to be genuine by what he did.
23 The Scripture passage came true. It says, "Abraham 
   believed God, and that faith was regarded by God to be 
   His approval of Abraham" (Gen. 15:6). So Abraham was 
   called God’s friend.
24 You see that a person receives God’s approval because 
   of what he does, not only because of what he believes.

-- 1 John 4:7,11
7 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes 
   from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God 
   and knows God.

11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, 
   we also ought to love one another.

-- Jude 1:20 
   But you, dear friends, build yourselves up in your most 
   holy faith and pray in the Holy Spirit.

-- 1 Corinthians 15:33 
   Do not be misled: "Bad company corrupts good character."

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---

-- Exodus 33:11 
   The LORD would speak to Moses face to face, 
   as a man speaks with his friend. Then Moses would 
   return to the camp, but his young aide Joshua 
   son of Nun did not leave the tent.

-- 1 Samuel 18:1; 20:42
18:1  David finished talking to Saul. After that, Jonathan 
   became David’s closest friend. He loved David as 
   much as he loved himself.

20:42  Jonathan said to David, "Go in peace, for we
   have sworn friendship with each other in the name of 
   the LORD, saying, ‘The LORD is witness between you 
   and me, and between your descendants and my 
   descendants forever.’" Then David left, and Jonathan 
   went back to the town.

-- 2 Samuel 16:16 
   And so it was, when Hushai the Archite, David’s friend, 
   came to Absalom, that Hushai said to Absalom, 
   "Long live the king! Long live the king!"

-- Isaiah 41:8 
   But you, O Israel, my servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, 
   you descendants of Abraham my friend.

-- Job 12:4; 16:20-21; 42:7,10;
12:4 Yet my friends laugh at me, for I call on God 
   and expect an answer. I am a just and blameless man, 
   yet they laugh at me.

16:20 My friends scorn me, but I pour out my tears to God.
16:21 I need someone to mediate between God and me, 
   as a person mediates between friends.

42:7 After the LORD had finished speaking to Job, 
   He said to Eliphaz the Temanite: “I am angry with you 
   and your two friends, for you have not spoken accurately 
   about Me, as My servant Job has.

42:10 When Job prayed for his friends, the LORD 
   restored his fortunes. In fact, the LORD gave him twice 
   as much as before!

-- Proverbs 17:17; 18:24; 22:11; 27:6, 9-10
17:17  A friend loves at all times, 
   and a brother is born for adversity.

18:24  There are “friends” who destroy each other, 
   but a real friend sticks closer than a brother.

22:11   He who loves a pure heart and whose speech is 
   gracious will have the king for his friend.

27:6 Faithful are the wounds of a friend, 
   But the kisses of an enemy are deceitful. (Mat. 26:47-50) 

27:9 Perfume and incense bring joy to the heart, 
   and the pleasantness of one’s friend springs from 
   his earnest counsel.

27:10  Do not forsake your friend and the friend of your 
   father, and do not go to your brother’s house when 
   disaster strikes you;  Better a neighbor nearby than 
   a brother far away.